The Engagement
by KazzaXTreme
Summary: Part two of the Animal and the Photographer trilogy: They opened their hearts and fell in love but will the return of an old flame destroy everything they have? Rated for content.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to part two of the Animal and the Photographer trilogy. I know Jamie finished the last chapter but eh.**

**Jamie**

It started about a week after we returned from our Australia/New Zealand tour. One phone call to start with I didn't even know who it was from just a deep voice saying,

"I wanted to congratulate you on your recent engagement," then the line went dead. I just figured it was some fan of Dave's who had some how gotten my phone number. I didn't give it a second thought. Then the next call came,

"I hope you're happy with your new engagement. You've got something belonging to me, I want it!" Again I figured it was some fan obsessed with Dave and while it scared me I really didn't give it much thought. I continued on with my photography, raising my son and planning my wedding. The third call was worse than the others,

"You think things are so great now don't you? I'm coming to get what is mine!" At that I had a flashback a man pushing me to the bed hissing about how I was his.

"Conner?" I whispered petrified.

"Ah you finally realise. You stupid bitch how dare you keep my son from me!"

"No," I mutter realising that he had somehow figured out that he had a son,

"What now you telling me he's not my son?"

"He's yours… How did you find out?" I couldn't believe that I was having this conversation and had to struggle not to let the tears fall.

"I have my ways. How old is he?" He asked totally changing his attitude,

"4 and a half,"

"I want him! He belongs to me!"

"No! You're not even on his birth certificate. You're not getting my son," I mustered up the strength to stand up to the man who controlled me for 6 years.

"You can't protect him forever!" He hissed before hanging up.

The calls were more frequent after that, once every couple of days. He didn't even say much just,

"I'm coming for him!" Then he would hang up. I stopped letting Eli go to day care, he would be with someone the entire time, I wouldn't even let him sleep in his own bed. My change of attitude didn't make sense to anyone. No one could know about the phone calls, it would just make things worse and besides at the moment they were just threats. Eli would cry about wanting to sleep in his own bed and Dave was starting to get frustrated and would usually sleep on the other bed. One night Mark was looking after my son and Dave was, as usual, walking me to the photography department when he pulled me to the side,

"What is going on?"

"I don't know what you mean?"

"Since we got back from Australia you have been Nazi mom with Eli. You've gone from letting him run around the arena to nearly having him tied to somebody. What is going on?"

"Nothing, I just want to keep an eye on him."

"Jamie you can tell me what's going on this is nothing like you,"

"Nothing is going on!" I hissed, I wished that I could tell him but I knew that I couldn't.

"Is it to do with Conner?" He asked. His question was completely out of the blue and I was taken back that he'd gotten it in one. But I couldn't let him know that.

"No!" I shouted and turned away, I felt so bad doing this to him.

"Look if we're going to get married you need to be able to trust me," I couldn't respond and just walked away. That night Dave crashed with Mark. I wanted to tell him about the calls but I knew it would just make things worse. It wasn't his problem anyway, I got myself into it, I had to get myself out of it.

I was watching my son sleep when the hotel phone rang; he knew my hotel room,

"I saw him tonight; with that guy what does he call himself? The Undertaker? You think that oath is going to stop me? He looks just like me doesn't he? He has my hair and my eyes, smiles like you though. He had a nice little outfit on as well. Did you pick it?"

"Dave bought it for him."

"Ah yes, Dave that fiancé of yours. Saw you two fighting tonight, wise idea not telling him. I can see why you fell for him though; we could be separated at birth. Except for the age difference of course, he's like old enough to be your dad"

"He's only 9 years older than me."

"Close enough. Would make a perfect father for my son though, what did you call him? Eli? What sort of name is that? Eli Israel Alister, you didn't even give him my name"

"He is not your son!"

"Oh yes he is and I'm taking him back. Now sleep well darling," I could hear the smirk in Conner's voice and as soon as the call ended I rushed to the bathroom and vomited. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't tell anyone and I couldn't protect my son forever.

Despite it being 3am I called Dave,

"This better be good," he yawned into the phone obviously having not looked at the caller-Id or he did and couldn't see the name without his glasses on.

"I'm sorry," I muttered hanging up. A few moments later someone knocked on the door, when I opened it I was surprised to see Dave in nothing but his boxer shorts and wiping sleep from his eyes.

"I can't tell you, but please trust me?" I muttered and Dave stepped forward taking me in his arms and letting me cry. We ended up on the floor with Dave leaning against the floor holding me while I cried. He didn't need to know what was wrong he just had to be there.

"I'll always be here. I love you," he whispered once again knowing all the right words to say. I think he was certain that it had something to do with Conner he just knew not to push the matter.

The phone calls had been going on for two months and I had so far managed to protect my son. Conner filled my every waking thought and every dream, I couldn't escape him. Dave was true to his word and was always there, that is until I had to return to Minnesota and he returned to Washington. He begged me to come stay with him but I didn't want to put the girls at risk, I knew that nothing would stop Conner. We had a week off and I was back with my family while Dave was with his. He rang me the first day,

"I want to adopt Eli."

"What?"

"As soon as we're married I want to adopt Eli," any other day this would have been the best news in the world but with Conner lurking it was horrible.

"You're not going to solve things by adopting Eli,"

"I know and I know I can't protect you or him from whatever the hell is going on right now. But I want Eli as my son, I love him so much and he needs a father."

"Let's discuss this closer to the actual date," I sighed it broke my heart shutting the man down, "and don't mention this to Eli."

"Fine, but just remember this: I love you, I love that little boy and I will never hurt you I will do everything to protect you," he sounded as though he was struggling not to cry as he hung up.

It broke my heart to constantly turn Dave away; I wanted to say to him,

"YES PLEASE ADOPT MY SON!" But I couldn't not with everything that's going on. I looked at the boy playing with his best friend. They were playing with their wrestling figures Eli was Dave and Jimmy had be Jim then he threw him away,

"I want to be John!" He announced grabbing the John Cena figure sitting nearby, "Jim is too old now!" I couldn't help but laugh and take a glance at his mother.

"Mom, I don't want Jim to be my new dad I want John," as Alex was dating Jim she'd been to plenty of shows and with him now on Raw she was spending time with the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton.

"Hey the boy's getting smart!" I announced smirking at my best friend,

"I thought you hate John,"

"I do but ANYONE is better than Jim and from what you've said Cena's taken a bit of an interest in you. I don't see why though,"

"Yea and I'm still trying to figure out why the hell Dave wants to marry you."

"Mom I want Davie to be my real dad!" Eli announced not even looking up from his action figure. I just took a glance at Alex and my phone rang.

"Who's that boy he's always playing with? He's a bad seed, I don't want my son around him," Conner was making his daily phone call.

"Whatever,"

"Who is it?" Alex called from nearby,

"Nobody," Conner muttered and I echoed. Alex came up behind me taking the phone out of my hand,

"Hey gorgeous!" She announced clearly thinking it was my fiancé.

"Hmm, they hung up." She shrugged handing the phone back to me,

"Yea you scared them," I joked. It wasn't long before Alex and Jimmy headed home for dinner. While my step-father watched TV with my son I helped my mom make dinner. She had also noticed a change in my behaviour and began to question it. I brushed it off and we continued making dinner.

I was facing an up hill battle and had nobody to help me, nobody could help me. What could they do? Force me to report Conner to the police? He knew how to play the system and I'd end up coming off the bad guy, he'd just be an innocent dad trying to contact his son. Knowing him, he'd probably sue me for custody and I would lose Eli. I contemplated letting Conner visit with my son I thought that maybe if he spend some time with Eli he'd get over his fascination. But I knew that I couldn't put my son in such a situation. Conner had done horrific things to me so who is to say that he wouldn't do the same to Eli? What sort of mother would I be even contemplating allowing my son around such a man?

I think I always knew that if Conner was serious Conner was going to get what Conner wanted. He always had in the past so why should the present be any different? Conner got what Conner wanted and what Conner wanted was my four and a half year old son. I knew I couldn't protect Eli forever I couldn't keep him with me 24/7 I had a job and he had a heap of baby sitters many who thought I was being the over protective parent and just needed to let the apron strings out slightly.

During our weeks vacation I had to leave Eli with my mom on more than one occasion. One day I was with Alex while we were looking at Wedding Dresses, a date may not have been set but in typical female fashion we were already preparing. I'd asked my mom to keep Eli home from day care. I knew that Jimmy was there but it was too risky, I didn't want to lose my son to my crazed ex-fiancé. I was getting ready to head home when I received a call, I didn't bother looking at my caller-ID, it was going to be the same person who had called every day at the same time for the past two months. I answered the phone with a tired, 'hello' and quickly ended the call,

"Get Jimmy from Preschool," I muttered to Alex,

"What? Why?"

"Just go and get him,"

"Jamie what is going on?" Alex asked coming over to where I was standing.

"Eli's gone," I replied before collapsing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Pre-A/N: Hey guys sorry about the last chapter posted... I posted the wrong one and didn't take a look at it before going off on a mission trip. Here is the real chapter I hope you enjoy it. Thank you to the anonymous poster who said it was only two paragraphs. **

**A/N: Hey guys, I have a new computer but I can't use the internet on it yet. My step-dad fixed my laptop but it broke again. So the only internet access I have is my mum's laptop. **

**Dave**

If I didn't know any better I would have thought that Jamie's attitude change had something to do with our engagement. But if that was the case why would she have turned into Nazi mom in regards to Eli? Jamie had begun to receive a lot of private phone calls at all hours of the day and night. We'd be asleep when her phone rang and I would instinctively answer it only to have the caller hang up on me. After awhile I began to have my suspicions as to who the caller was.

Confronting Jamie about it turned out to be a bad idea; she simply turned and walked away. That night I crashed with Mark, how could things go from being so perfect to such a mess seemingly over night? At about 3 am Jamie called and hung up on me and I knew that she needed me, it no longer matter what the problem was I just had to be there for the woman I loved and her son.

When we got some time off I begged Jamie to come home with me. The girl's wanted to spend some time with them and I thought that maybe I'd be able to protect them from what I was sure was threats from Conner. But Jamie simply refused not even Eli's puppy dog eyes and pouting could change her mind. I couldn't understand it, I thought that she would be more than eager to get away but she just wouldn't budge.

When Jamie and I first got engaged Eli broached the topic of adoption. Yet Tthe idea had been on my mind long before the conversation had ever taken place and with Jamie's change of behaviour it was all I could think about. I'd barely been home for 24 hours when I decided to call Jamie and tell her my decision.

"I want to adopt Eli," I rushed out excited and expecting a similar reaction. Instead she shot me down, not saying no exactly but still shutting me down. By the time the call ended I was struggling to hold back tears she still wasn't opening up and it was killing me. I got more information from during our first date than I had been since we'd gotten engaged.

I couldn't deal with Jamie's attitude change. I knew I had to be there for her and I would but I wasn't about to put myself out there there like that again. Instead I decided that I was going to spend the rest of the week spending time with my girls. We had given Tanya, the nanny, the week off, before heading to the store for an entertainment shopping spree. CDs, DVDs, Board games and of course lots of chocolate, popcorn and Krispy Kreme. Talk about throwing my diet completely out the window.

We were two days into our movie, music and board game fest when I received the phone call that I'd been dreading.

"Is this David?"

"Yes,"

"It's Sandy Jackson, Jamie's mom." I was surprised as there was no reason for her to call; we weren't exactly the best of friends. . Hell we were barely on speaker terms.

"What can I do for you?"

"I'm only ringing you for Jamie's sake. I can't believe it myself but uh Conner's taken Eli." I nearly dropped the phone. Eli was gone? Taken by a monster to god knows where. Who knew what that man was going to do with Eli? My mind was racing with all the possible things that could be happening to that boy. Where was he? Was he okay? I eventually remembered I still had the phone in my hand,

"Are you still there?" Jamie's mom was asking,

"Yea, look I'll be out on the next flight. Is Jamie okay?"

"It's best for you to see yourself."

"Thanks for telling me. See you as soon as I can." I hung up the phone in order to call the airline. I just had to get on the next flight. Jamie needed me.

After booking my flight which would leave three just over two hours later I called Tanya at her daughter's and apologised for the inconvenience. Yet I was still unable to face my children, especially my youngest who simply adored Eli. Once I was ready to leave I forced myself to callcalled my girls into the lounge,

"I have to go to Minnesota,"

"Why? What's wrong?" Rachel asked knowing that Jamie and Eli lived there.

"I'm not going to sugar coat it I think you're old enough to know the truth," I sighed stalling for a moment,

"Dad what's wrong?"

"Eli's been kidnapped."

"WHAT? BY WHO?" Mel screamed almost in tears.

"I don't know the story yet just that Conner, Eli's birth father, has taken him. I need to go and be with Jamie."

"Can we come? We can help look," Hailey asked,

"No, you girls need to stay here. Tanya will be back soon but I have to head to the airport now."

"Let me give you a lift," Rachel jumped up grabbing her keys. My girls blew me away every day, they were constantly growing up and now for the last year or so I had been privileged to have them live with me.

When the girls first met Jamie and Eli they seemed ready for to declare World War 3 but it only took a couple of hours alone with Jamie for them to change their tune. I still didn't know the full details of that morning and didn't really care. Whatever they discussed resulted in the girls realising that Jamie only had one head and the four forming a close bond.

Despite the flight only being three hours long it was the longest flight I had ever taken. I could have sworn that we weren't actually moving, just being suspended in mid air. There had been fans that recognised me at both airports but I wasn't in the mood. Signing autographs were the last thing on my mind; I only cared about getting to Jamie then trying to find Eli. They could call me a jerk and the gossip sites could write anything they wanted; I didn't care. I wasn't going between shows so I didn't have to do anything for anyone else.

At Jamie's house her step-dad, Jack, let me in and indicated for me to head upstairs. I acknowledged the police gathered around the kitchen table before heading upstairs where I found Jamie and her mom having a screaming fight with two police officers nearby.

"WHAT WAS SO HARD ABOUT MY INSTRUCTIONS?"

"HE WANTED TO GO TO DAY CARE"

"AND I SAID NO! ALL I ASKED WAS FOR YOU TO SPEND ONE LOUSY DAY WITH YOUR GRANDSON AND YOU COULDN'T DO IT!"

"He was miserable he wanted to see his best friend."

"AND I WANTED HIM AT HOME!"

"Well if you'd told someone about Conner then maybe I would have known!"

"ME SAYING TO KEEP HIM HOME WASN'T ENOUGH?"

"I thought you were being over protective. How was I meant to know? You didn't tell anyone!"

"BECAUSE HE WAS THREATENING ME! I COULDN'T TELL ANYONE!"

"And what good did that do? Eli's still gone!"

"YEA BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T SPEND ONE DAMN DAY WITH YOUR GRANDSON! DON'T TRY AND BLAME ME FOR THIS! YOU WENT AGAINST MY WISHES!"

"HE WANTED TO GO TO DAYCARE!"

"MY SON IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T SPENT ONE DAMN DAY WITH HIM! IF CONNER DOES SOMETHING TO HIM I WILL _NEVER _FORGIVE YOU!" Jamie's voice faltered at the thought and I decided it was time for me to step in.

I walked up and placed my hand on her shoulder. Jamie turned around and the second she saw my face hers crumbled. She collapsed against my chest in tears; I fell to the ground with her and let her cry. I felt the tears in my own eyes but knew that I had to hold them back. I had to be strong for Jamie if she saw me upset it would just make matters worse. After a while I picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. It was late and while I knew that Jamie had no interest in sleeping until she had her son back she needed to get some sleep or she'd be no help what so ever. I knew the police would want to talk to me and could hear Jamie's parents asking them to wait. Jamie eventually cried herself to sleep in my arms arms. sShe was restless and would occasionally shout out but at least she was asleep.

Eventually an officer showed up at the doorway.

"Can you please come down stairs and answer some questions sir?"

"Not at the moment. I can't exactly move," I replied indicating to Jamie's sleeping form against my body.

"Why not?"

"Because Because if I move her she'll wake up,"

"How do you know that?"

"I'm marrying her; you'd think I'd know her sleeping habits. Ask me questions here," I sighed in resignation.

"Alright, can you state your full name in full?" The officer asked setting a voice recorder on the bed.

"David Michael Bautista Jr."

"How do you know Ms Alister?"

"I met her through work, she's a photographer."

"And your relationship?"

"We started dating over a year ago and were engaged two months ago."

"What about your relationship with her son?"

"We're close. He's like the son I never had; in fact I'm planning on adopting him once Jamie and I are married." I couldn't bear to even toy with the idea of thinking about Eli in a past tense.

"When did you last see the boy?"

"On the weekend at the airport in Colorado,"

"What have you been doing since then?"

"Spending time with my own children,"

"Where are they now?"

"At home with their nanny, house keeper type of person," I couldn't help but smirk at how the girls hated the concept of a nanny so Tanya's title had become; the nanny, house keeper type person.

"Nanny, house keep type person?"

"Yea they're all teenagers and figured they were too old for a nanny so we gave her a unique title."

Jamie shouted out in her sleep causing the officer to jump and decide that there had been enough questions for a while and took his leave. Once alone I watched the woman tossing and turning in my arms and felt tears once again begin to form. This time I didn't stop them instead I allowed the tears to slide down my face. I cried for Eli, taken away from his family and friends by a man he knew very little about, and for Jamie who had lost her son, Sandy who had lost her grandson and by the looks of things her daughter. Finally I cried for my own loss and the fact that I couldn't stop it happening. While Jamie hadn't told me about the phone calls I had figured out that it was something to do with Conner and I didn't do anything about it. I had promised Jamie that I would always be there for her and Eli and I wasn't. I let that man, that monster, take away the thing that matter the most to Jamie. Eli had given her hope and joy; to Jamie he was what made the world go round. Now he was gone, taken by the same man who had forced him into this world in the first place.

Eventually I fell into a state of oblivion, my dreams filled with the innocent young boy's smiling face. I woke just a few hours later to an empty bed. Jamie was downstairs pacing the kitchen; she'd been awake for an hour and couldn't understand why they were hanging around instead of out looking for her son.

"When did you get here?" She asked as I entered the kitchen.

"Last night don't you remember?"

"Why are you here?"

"Your mom called and told me about Eli. I couldn't just leave you to deal with it alone." Jamie was furious I thought she was going to scream at me and send me home instead she raced into my arms,

"Thank you." She sobbed.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Once again sorry about the previous chapter. If you only read the short version go and check out the proper one. **

**Jamie**

Alex drove me home before heading to pick up Jimmy. Except for the knowledge that Eli was gone, I didn't know what had happened. I'd recently spoken to his day care director, reinforcing my wish for Eli's father to keep his distance. With that request it would be logical to think that Eli would be safe at day care; but as I soon found out, it was from there that Conner took him.

The police were already at my place; mom had contacted them right after ending our call. It took close to half an hour and a tag team between the police and my parents to discover what had happened to my son. Supposedly my mother had gone against my wishes and had taken Eli to day care. She saw nothing wrong in allowing the boy to see his best friend. Besides, my mother would have done anything to stop his screaming and tears. A few hours later she went to pick Eli up to ensure he would be at home when I arrived. However things didn't go quite as planned. When my mother turned up at the day care centre she was met with a very confused director. After all, the director had received a phone call from me explaining that Eli's father and I were going to try to get back together and I had given Conner permission to pick up his son. He would arrive 10 minutes later with a letter signed by me giving the okay for him to take Eli.

Eli had no idea who Conner was and was apprehensive about leaving with him. But the centre had the letter and the phone call so they encouraged the boy to leave with his father. That was it, there was nothing more to it; Conner had pulled the oldest con in the book and the centre had fallen for it … now my son was gone. Taken by a man he didn't know to who knows where. Who knew what Conner was doing to that boy. I tried not to think about it but it was impossible.

I don't remember much after that except that my mother had said something and we began arguing. Then I woke up in my own bed with a heavy arm holding me close. At some stage Dave had arrived. I don't even know how he knew, someone must have rung him. I didn't care who, I just cared that he was there. Despite our fights he had still come to be with me, to help find my son. When I asked him about it later he had said that my mother had called him and there was no way he was going to leave me to deal with everything alone. I broke down as he held me; he was my savior, my knight in shining armor.

The police had more questions for us and I got the feeling that they expected that Dave and I had killed Eli and hid the body. Dave ended up going to the day care centre and meeting with the staff to prove that he was not the man that collected my son. I on the other hand was required to have a phone conversation with the director. The centre was also under investigation. After all they did go against my wishes and now my son was missing.

That afternoon we received a phone call that cleared both David and I of any possible charges. The call came through on my cell phone but the detectives were prepared and were ready to track the call by the time I was able to answer.

"Jamie speaking," I tried to answer in my most professional voice.

"Jamie, Jamie, Jamie … so great to hear your voice. I'm sure dear Eli would love to as well." I felt the bile burn my throat as his slimy voice echoed through the earpiece.

"Where have you taken my son?" I managed to hiss out causing everyone in the room to lean in hoping to hear the other end of the conversation.

"Aw don't you worry your pretty little head about that, he's my son now. You've had him the last four years. It's my turn now!"

"You won't get away with this. Let me talk to Eli."

"Oh I think not."

"You've already got a kidnapping charge on your head, do you want suspected murder as well?" I asked smirking slightly.

"Fine! Eli, tell your mommy you love her."

"I love you mommy!"

"I love you, too, baby boy. Do you know where you are? Just say yes or no."

"Ye…"

"Nice try! You really thought I'd let you get away with that? Goodbye Jamie, I'll call you," Conner hissed as the line went dead.

The room was momentarily silent as the detectives sorted the data from their tracking machine.

"Blast! He called from a cell phone."

"What's wrong with that?" Dave asked from over my shoulder.

"He was on the move; we could track state and city but couldn't get a steady location. He'll be long gone before we even reached Wisconsin."

"He's in Wisconsin?" I asked jumping up in my seat; my baby boy was in South Dakota. That's why he knew where he was, we went to Wisconsin plenty of times.

"Yes Green Bay, actually. But we don't know how long for. We have no idea where they will be heading next. We'll put the word out and stop them from crossing the boarder into Canada, Mexico and the airports are on the look out. But it is a pretty big country they could be heading anywhere." The younger detective, Mike I think his name was, explained while his partner, Jack, made some calls. We sat in silence once more listening to the one sided conversations between Jack and the people he was calling.

"All right, I've notified Wisconsin police, they're going to be on the lookout but at the moment all they can look for is a man with a small boy driving a dark car. When we take a look at the car park security tapes we'll hopefully be able to get some more details."

"What do we do in the meantime? Why are we just sitting around and not out looking for them?"

"Because there is no point, they're on the move. They're probably long gone now. In the meantime, you guys wait. Mike and I need to visit Conner's mother, perhaps she has an idea where they are heading."

"I'm coming," I announced loudly.

"I don't think that's a good idea ma'am," Jack replied firmly.

"No let me go, please."

I needed to get out of the house and it was about time Conner's mom knew the truth, especially if it meant a lead on the whereabouts of my son. Dave backed me up, saying it would probably be a good thing for me to get out of the house and it would feel as though we were actually trying to find the boy. After a somewhat heated debate the investigators agreed to allow me to accompany them to Conner's mom's house as long as Dave came as well.

We took Dave's rental in order to avoid suspicion and the entire ride was spent in silence sans a few muttered comments between the two investigators and the automated voice of the GPS. Since he'd arrived, Dave had rarely been away from me and even in the car he kept one hand firmly grasping mine. I clung to it like it was my lifeline. I didn't know what I would have done if it wasn't for Dave's arrival the night before.

At the house, I was out of the car and at the front door before the Jack and Mike had even taken off their seatbelts. I paused, my heart beating a million miles an hour as I raised my fist to knock. I nearly couldn't do it. When Conner and I were together I had a key, I was sure to still have it somewhere. My fist didn't get a chance to connect with the wooden door as Conner's mom pulled it open.

"Can I help? Jamie? Jamie Alister is that you?"

"Yes ma'am," I muttered feeling about two years old as Dave and the investigators joined me.

"Wow you've brought an entourage. You must have heard Conner has been in town. I'm sorry but you missed him, he left yesterday."

"That is what we're here about," Jack announced stepping in front of me.

"My name is Detective Mitchson and this is my partner Detective Winkler, we need to ask you some questions about your son."

Conner's mom's hand clutched her chest and she went pale.

"Is he okay? Is my boy in trouble?"

"Ma'am may we come in? It is probably best that we do this inside."

"Oh yes okay. Who are you?" she asked looking up at Dave.

"This is my fiancé, Dave Batista. Dave, this is Conner's mother, Barb."

Dave growled at Conner's name but still smiled and shook the woman's hand.

"Please tell me what is going on," Barb turned to me as we sat down around the table.

But I couldn't speak; I could barely form the thoughts in my head. How were we meant to tell this kind, loving lady that her son was a kidnapper?

"How long was your son here, ma'am?" Jack asked changing the subject.

"A week, he said he had some unfinished business to deal with."

"Did he say what that business was?"

"Um, he said that he was back to get something that was his."

"Did he have anyone with him?"

"No, but he did speak of a girl joining him back home."

"What was her name?"

"I couldn't tell you. Sorry I'm horrible with names."

"Did he mention anyone else? A boy, perhaps?"

"No, except he had this photo. He kept looking at it saying that he was going to get what was his. Yesterday he left in a hurry and must have forgotten it."

"It's still here?" Mike asked jumping up excitedly.

"Yes, would you like to see it?"

"Yes please."

"All right as long as you tell me what on Earth is going on with my son."

Jack sighed and promised that if we saw the picture he would explain everything and thanked Barb for her patience. I looked around the house as we waited for her to find the photo; it looked exactly as it had five years ago. I remembered sitting at the kitchen table with Conner as Barb made us breakfast when we had run out of food at our place. We had so many fun times at that place and Barb had always treated me like one of her own. I hadn't told her when I got pregnant because I was worried that she would tell Conner.

Barb returned and handed the photo to the detectives but before they could look at it Dave covered it with his hand before passing it to me.

"You look," he muttered as he uncovered the picture. I stared into his eyes momentarily trying to bring myself to glance down at the picture that I was certain contained my son. I glanced at the detectives who nodded and Barb who was trying to figure out what was going on. Finally my eyes dropped and before me was a picture of my son playing in the sandpit at day care. I gasped and the sobs came, if there had been any doubts in my mind that it wasn't Conner they were now gone.

I collapsed against Dave's chest as Barb's patience came to its end.

"Tell me what is going on or get the hell out of my house!"

"Ma'am we are led to believe that your son has kidnapped the boy in this photo. The boy is what he came to get."

"You're saying my son is a kidnapper?"

"That is what we are led to believe, ma'am," Jack replied solemnly, I did not envy his job.

"Why are you here Jamie?" Barb whispered barely willing to hear the answer. I couldn't reply the sobs were too great and the pain too intense.

"The boy in the picture, his name is Eli Israel Alister. He's Jamie's son," Dave whispered after a few moments of silence. I heard a gasp followed by a barely audible whisper.

"Why would Conner take him? He's gotten over the past, surely."

"Eli is Conner's son too," Dave replied. There was another gasp and a horrific cry echoed throughout the room.

We sat in silence for close to half an hour. Barb held me in her arms and we both sobbed. She asked why, why didn't I tell her only to be destroyed again when Dave muttered that four letter word. Eventually one of the detectives spoke.

"Ma'am did your son give any indication of where he was going?"

"What? Oh I don't know. I can't believe it."

"Think for a moment please ma'am did he say anything?"

"I don't know … I'm so sorry Jamie … Wait he said something about the mountains and learning to ski. But he was always drinking or smoking; I didn't know whether to pay attention or not."

**A/N: Beta'd By Esquirella so that it could be posted now not in another month. Sorry about it taking so long. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Dave**

Meeting Conner's mother, Barb, angered me I wanted to hit her in an attempt to offer a release for the way I was feeling. Instead I smiled through gritted teeth and shook the woman's hand resisting the temptation to crush it. I sat silently while the detectives talked around why we were all sitting in this woman's kitchen. She said she had a photo that her son had left behind, it was of a young boy and when she showed it to us the detectives had the nerve to think they should see the photo first? The first time I spoke was to tell Jamie to look at the photo, it was her son, she had the right.

Jamie gasped and collapsed into my chest sobbing. My fiancé hugged the photo to her own chest as though it was her son and not just a picture. I held her close and let her sob as Conner's mother finally snapped and demanded that the detectives finally tell her what was going on. I didn't blame her, if it had to do with my children I'd feel the same way. Once everything was finally out in the open the two women turned to each other for comfort.

How dare this woman turn to Jamie for comfort, who did she think she was? She kept begging to know why Jamie hadn't told her about Eli. Finally through gritted teeth I muttered the word that Jamie hated. I wanted to grab the woman and shake her until she stopped breathing. If she had raised her son with better morals and values and respect toward women then we wouldn't be in this mess. It was really her fault. But then I realized that if it wasn't for the way she raised Conner which resulted in him being such a prick then Jamie and he would still be together. I would have never met Eli and fallen in love with the duo.

I was the luckiest guy on Earth and really I had Conner to thank for that. The thought just made my blood boil. Seeing my fiancé finding comfort in the arms of the woman who gave birth to Conner made me sick. She should have been turning to me, not the mother of the enemy. I stood up and began pacing, I couldn't take it anymore.

It was an eternity until we left, when the two women finally stopped sobbing the detectives asked the same question millions of times over. Jamie got frustrated, Conner's mother got frustrated and I was nearly really to throw one of those stupid detectives through the screen door. We spent close to four hours in that woman's kitchen. As the detectives asked more and more questions dating back to Conner's behavior at Eli's age I began to realize that she wasn't all that bad of a woman. She had raised her son alone the best that she could, a lot like my mother.

The news of her son's behavior truly broke her heart and she kept trying to figure out what it was that she had done. Was it not letting him pick his own clothes when he was 3 or taking his toys away when he misbehaved? She didn't know and it was killing her. Every time she blamed herself guilt went through me, I had originally blamed her as well. But she was nothing like her son.

She noticed the drinking though and the occasional drugs but they were a good Christian family and this behavior was completely out of the question. Her heart yearned for her son to return Eli unharmed and promised to do anything she could to help us find him. Even letting us know if and when her son called.

Without fail Conner called his mother every Saturday at 5pm. The woman loved her son's predictability and it gave us hope that maybe she would hear from him in a couple of days and he would divulge his location. The chance of possibly knowing the location of her son made Jamie perk up.

She didn't say anything on the ride home but her eyes were slightly glazed over. I could tell she was thinking about Eli and the man that had taken him. When we arrived back at her house she simply got out of the car and headed upstairs ignoring the questions from her parents.

"How did it go?" Her step-dad asked, turning to me when I entered the kitchen.

"Alright, Conner's mom doesn't know where he is but there is hope. He calls her every Saturday. Plus he had left a photo of Eli behind. It looks like he's been tracking the kid for some time now," I sighed in response.

Then Jamie's mother did something I never expected to happen, she stood up and gave me a hug. "I know this is hard on you. I know you love Eli and Jamie. Thank you for being here for my daughter,"

"It's no problem, I really do love them" I muttered struggling to hold back tears. Jamie's mother had hated me from day one, despite giving her blessing she had never really approved of our relationship. Now she was demonstrating some sort of approval and actually acknowledging my feelings for her daughter and grandson.

"Excuse me," I muttered pulling away and heading downstairs, where the guest room was.

I had to be strong for Jamie and her family but the severity of the situation was seriously starting to sink in. I couldn't take it anymore and while I was alone in the guest room I let the tears fall. It had been a long time since I had last cried. I was a man and men don't cry but, something deep down told me that this time it was alright.

I desired nothing more than to have my girls with me and know that they were safe. If I couldn't stop Eli from being taken who's to say that the same thing hasn't happened to my girls. I cried as I acknowledged that I was a failure, as a man and as a father. My girls barely knew me and I couldn't even protect the child of the woman I was going to marry. Eli was going to become my son and I let another man come and take him.

It took a while but I finally regained my composure enough that I would be able to be strong for Jamie and her family. When I went back up stairs to face the rest of the world Jamie was still hidden. I had assumed that she was in her room resting but she was nowhere to be seen when I checked. The bathroom was empty so I wandered up the hall knowing that my fiancé had to be upstairs somewhere.

I found Jamie sitting on the floor by the head of Eli's bed. She had her elephant wrapped tightly in her arms and was sobbing. My heart broke as I knelt down in front of her and wrapped a hand around her elephant,

"He'll be okay, he has his elephant too. Remember what he told me?" I asked,

"All you have to do is hug it and everything will be okay," I whispered after gaining no response.

"But no matter how hard I hug it Eli's still not home."

"We'll get him back," I replied pulling Jamie close to me.

"He must be so scared, so alone,"

"He's a tough kid he'll be okay,"

"But he's only four!"

"But he's your son and if there is any four year old in the world that can get through this it's the one you've raised." I sighed, I knew that Eli was the toughest 4-year-old around but wondered if he could really deal with the situation he was in.

I couldn't help but think of the boy's allergies. What if Conner just gave him coke or something, we'd been trying to get Eli to understand the significance of his allergies but when other people had coke or chocolate he wanted it too. I worried about how Conner would respond; would he know what to do in that sort of situation? Would he even care? If Eli went into anaphylactic shock there is no way that he could tell Conner what to do and it would only take 4 minutes and the boy would be brain dead. It wouldn't take much longer for him to be dead.

Not having Eli around was so hard for Jamie; losing him permanently would kill her. I couldn't imagine how she would handle the news. Hell, I couldn't imagine my life without that kid. I couldn't bring up his allergies with Jamie; it would just worry her more, I had to find a way to get word to Conner. I knew that I was probably the last person in the world that Conner would accept advice from but what I was offering could lessen his punishment. Its one thing to be charged for kidnapping but it was completely different to be charged for manslaughter or murder.

While thinking of Eli's allergies I remembered that Jamie's parents didn't know the full story about Conner.

"You need to tell your parents about Eli," I muttered into Jamie's hair.

"They know he's gone," she hissed pulling away from my chest to look at me,

"No I mean about his conception. The media is already all over this and they're going to find out. Do you think that the newspapers will keep that juicy piece of information out of the story just because your parents don't know? Its best they find out from you," I explained reaching up to wipe a tear away from my fiancé's face. Jamie's eyes locked with mine and I saw the pain in her soul, it broke my heart. I also saw the realization in her eyes, she knew what she had to do she was just afraid.

I pulled Jamie up and took her to the living room where her parents were sitting in a cold silence. Looking around I noticed a man I hadn't met before but knew a lot about, Jamie's father had arrived while we were in Eli's room. The woman let go of my hand and raced across the room into his arms. The two never had a very good relationship but I suppose that every girl needs her dad sometimes.

When the two pulled apart the man locked eyes with me,

"So you must be the man going to marry my daughter,"

"Yes sir, but you can call me Dave, it's much shorter and easier to remember," I smiled and reached out a hand. Jamie's father looked at my hand and scoffing slightly shook it.

"You're a bit old aren't you?"

"Age is just a number," I shrugged,  
"What's your number?"

"39," I saw the man's face cloud over before his daughter grabbed his hand,

"Daddy, I need to talk to you all and I really wouldn't appreciate you killing Dave right now."

"But…" The man growled attempting to step forward.

"Daddy! This is important, it's about Eli!" Jamie stepped up halting her father from expressing his obvious dislike for me.

Jamie's voice had quivered at the mention of Eli and her father was stopped in his tracks, Eli was definitely the key word. Jamie's father, Pete, sat back down and scowled at Jamie's father-in-law, another man he appeared to dislike. Preparing herself to finally tell her parents the truth, Jamie sat cross legged on the floor and I dropped down beside her. I listened as the woman of my dreams told her parents the true story of Eli's conception. More than anything I admired her courage. On more than one occasion Jamie's voice quivered yet when I attempted to comfort her she brushed me off.

"Why didn't you tell us at the time?" Sandy asked, Jamie was still very angry at her mother and I saw a flicker of hatred in her eyes before the answering her mother,  
"Because you would have made me get rid of him and I couldn't. There was no way I could give Eli up, no matter the circumstances behind his conception." The look on Sandy's face was devastating, she knew that her daughter was speaking the truth but didn't want to admit it.

The conversation didn't last any longer as the phone rang and everybody bolted into the kitchen where the tracker and police were waiting. Jamie answered the phone putting it on speaker and we all listened as Conner taunted my fiancé.

"Conner, its Dave" I interrupted after a couple of minutes. The second I spoke everybody head's turned to me, I knew that I was taking a risk and that he could get angry and even harm Eli. But, it was a risk that I knew I had to take.

"What do you want?" The man hissed,

"I want to help you," everybody in the room gasped in shock at the fact that I actually wanted to help the man that had taken Eli,

"You want to help me?"

"Yea, I'm on your side. I'm a father too," I knew I would get in a lot of trouble both from Jamie's family and the police for saying that I was on his side.

"Take me off speaker phone then," I did as the man instructed and picked up the phone,

"Why do you want to help me?" Conner asked as soon as he heard the phone go off speaker.

"Like I said I'm on your side. Look you need to know Eli has a severe allergy to caffeine"

"So?"

"I'm not just talking about hives, I'm talking anaphylactic shock. If he has caffeine you have 4 minutes before he's brain dead," Jamie had left the room when I told Conner that I was on his side but everyone who was still in the room realized the reasoning behind letting Conner think that I was on his side.

"Okay, I won't give him caffeine. What do I do if he does get it?" Conner asked, I could tell that he was processing the risk in his mind.

"He has an epi-pen in his bag, you jab it into his leg and get him to hospital."

"Davie!" Eli's voice called out in the background, I figured that Eli had just realized that I was the one speaking.

"Hey Eli," I replied cautiously, which sent Pete racing to find his daughter.

"Dave doesn't want to talk to you Eli, none of them do," Conner hissed giving me an insight into the way he was treating Eli.

"But its Davie, he loves me!"

"No he doesn't. Tell him, Daveyou don't want anything to do with him do you. TELL HIM DAVID or I will make your life a living hell!"

"You've already done that."

"Davie!! It's not true is it?" Eli cried in the background.

"Tell him you don't love him, neither does his mother or I will take your children as well," I looked around and saw that Jamie was back, with her father's arms wrapped around her. I swallowed sharply, what would the boy think if I told him that I didn't love him. What would Jamie think? But, if I didn't play to Conner's tune who knew what he would do to Eli and he said he'd take my children as well. How much did he know about my family?

"What are their names again Dave? Rachel, Hailey and Mel? Beautiful, beautiful young women, they look a lot like you Dave. Except Rachel, but then she's not yours is she? David, I will take them! And you will NEVER see them again."

I closed my eyes and took a breath swallowing hard,

"Eli, I don't love you," I sighed,

"What about Jamie?"

"I won't say it," I hissed,

"Then I'll take your girls! I'm sure they're pure and innocent aren't they David? They won't be if I get my hands on them,"

"Eli, your mother doesn't love you," I sighed struggling to hold back tears. Jamie screamed that I was a monster and bolted out of the room again. When Conner heard her screams he laughed and hung up.

Sitting down I hung up the phone,

"He's in Illinois, but he's on the move." One of the detectives said as everybody else left. They were disappointed in me but no one could have felt as bad as I did at that moment,

"He's threatened me. He said if I didn't say I didn't love Eli and that Jamie didn't either he would take my girls. He knew all about them as well," I muttered before going on the search for Jamie.


	5. Chapter 5

**Jamie's POV**

I couldn't believe what Dave said; he told my son that I didn't love him. He said that he didn't love him; he'd spent the last year and a half lying to my son, lying to me. The scum bag found me in Eli's room, the same place I had been hiding earlier in the day.

"He was threatening me," Dave whispered squatting down in front of me, I didn't believe him.

"He was going to hurt Eli and take my girls, I had no choice."

"Bloody typical, do anything to protect your children but let a monster take mine,"

"Jamie that's not fair! I did what was best for everyone,"

"It wasn't best for Eli!" I hissed pushing the man away from me and standing up,

"It hopefully stopped him getting hurt!"

"You just wanted to protect your _precious _girls"

"No, I wanted to protect my children the best I could. That INCLUDES Eli!" I looked up at him and saw tears in his eyes. I didn't know what to believe? He said that he was on Conner's side and that he didn't love Eli. But now he was saying that he'd only said it to protect the boy? I couldn't do this any longer and simply walked away.

The next day was Saturday, and while we didn't hear from Conner he called his mother. She pretended not to know about the kidnapping but expressed her disappointment in Conner leaving without saying goodbye. She wanted to know where he was going but the man refused to say a word. We didn't hear from Conner again and it didn't take long for him to realize that his mother was actually on our side. His last Saturday evening call was three weeks after Eli had been taken.

Dave had called Vince and gotten time off work, but things weren't that great between us. I was still hurting over his comments to Eli, no matter what the man said his words to Eli kept echoing in my head. What would possess anyone to say such a thing?

A month of pure hell passed and there was still no sign of Eli, the most information we had about where they had gone was that Conner had mentioned going to the mountains and skiing, and that they had gone via Wisconsin and Illinois.

One Tuesday Alex came bursting into the house, she'd been there for me through this entire ordeal but it was hard with Jimmy. Every time I saw him I got angry, I didn't get to be with my son and it was killing me.

"I know who did it!"

"Yea, so do we, it was Conner," Dave replied shaking his head,

"Shut up GQ," Alex hissed calling Dave a nickname that she had picked up from Randy and John, "I mean I know who gave Conner all the information,"

"Who?" I asked as my mother ran to call the detectives.

"Jim, they met each other a couple of years ago and Conner had mentioned dating you. Well Jim obviously figured out who you were and that you had a son. Did the math and figured that Conner was the father. Conner was pissed so they plotted to get closer to you and try and get Eli,"

"How did you find this out?" My dad asked carefully,

"Jim told me. Jimmy was being a little snot and saying how he liked John better than Jim. Jim just blew up saying that he was sick of the charade, if he had to say he loved me one more time or play one more game with Jimmy he would go insane! Then he told me everything and said that since you were already getting close to Dave they decided to get close to me. He even told me where they went,"

"Where?" I asked jumping up and hugging my friend.

I felt for her, she'd been used as a pawn in a monster's game and she had truly loved Jim. I'd never seen her as happy as she was when Jim was around, except maybe when she was backstage with Randy and John. I was also ecstatic that she might know the whereabouts of my son and things could go back to normal with Eli being where he was meant to be.

"Delta, Colorado. When you broke up with him and he left Minnesota he moved to Mexico with the girl he was screwing. Six months later he disappeared and went to Colorado."

Collapsing in a chair nearby, I burst into tears,

"When I asked more, he realized he'd told me too much and just stormed out. I don't know where he's heading but, I don't doubt that he has already told Conner. So I don't know how long he'll stay in Delta," Alex shrugged kneeling down in front of me. She was my best friend; we'd known each other for so many years and were raising our boys together.

Ever since Dave had proposed to me the one thing that I couldn't stop thinking about was what would happen to our friendship? I didn't know what I'd do without Alex or Jimmy in mine and Eli's lives.

"Where's Jimmy?" I asked realizing that her son wasn't with her,

"Bryan has him, can you believe it? Bryan is actually being responsible and taking Jimmy when he's meant to." Alex joked sitting down as my mother handed her a drink, "Thanks. It's nice to see some people are still hospitable in this house," Alex replied giving me a pointed look.

I ignored my friend's behavior. Dave walked over and sat next to Alex,

"Alex, I'm so sorry. Would you like Randy, John and I to go kick his ass? Because we can and we will,"

"It's okay, just find Eli," Alex smiled at Dave's protective attitude.

"Well just say the word," Dave smiled putting his arm around Alex.

"Jamie, what did you do to Dave? He's turned, nice! It's scary!"

I let out a slight laugh and automatically felt guilty. How could I be laughing when Eli wasn't with us? He was in Delta, Colorado. We were one step closer to finding him but I still felt like we were in the same place we were when Conner first took him.

"When's my flight?" I asked still not able to look at Dave, but I knew he'd already organized our flights. As soon as Alex had mentioned knowing where Conner had taken Eli, Dave had jumped up and called the airlines.

"8am tomorrow. I couldn't get us any sooner, sorry."

"Us?" I asked raising an eyebrow at the man I was engaged to.

"Damn straight, I'm not letting you go look for that kid without me."

"I can do this myself. He's my son; I'm going to find him!"

"You know I see him as my own. Besides I want the chance to give that Conner a piece of my mind!" Dave hissed slamming his hands down on the desk. I jumped slightly but had seen Dave riled up like this before. However, it was usually just when he was getting riled up for a match, especially one against someone he had a serious issue with.

"I'd like to come too. I want to help find my grandson,"

"You've already done enough!" I hissed at my mother. I was still a long way from forgiving her. Why couldn't she have just kept Eli home like I'd asked her? Deep down I knew that I was kidding myself, Conner would have taken Eli eventually, but I was nowhere near admitting it to myself or my mother.

"Alex, come and help me pack," I said grabbing my best friend's hand and pulling her towards the stairs,

"But I was eating your mom's cookies,"

"You can bring them with you. Since when have you had qualms about eating in my bedroom?"

"Do you need my help?" Dave asked following us to the stairs,

"No! This is girl time."

Alex and I sat in my room in silence for awhile. I was packing an overnight bag while Alex thumbed through one of my wrestling magazines,

"Why do you still get these?" Alex asked without looking up,

"Well, see all those photos in that magazine?" I asked throwing some shirts in my bag.

"Yea?"

"I took most of them. It builds my portfolio," I shrugged.

We spent another couple of minutes in silence,

"So what's going on with you and Dave?" Alex finally asked. I knew her question was coming. Lately I'd been so caught up in finding Eli that Alex and I hadn't had much time for our usual girl talk, which naturally always included relationship talk. It was clear to see there was tension between Dave and I. I knew that as soon as Alex had the chance she would ask me about it.

"Nothing," I muttered brushing it off.

"Liar!!" Alex caught me out,

"I don't want to talk about it," I tried, knowing that my attempts were futile. Alex had been my friend too long to let me get away with brushing things off.

"Jamison Hailey Alister, do not make me use force! Spill!" I sighed, sitting down on the bed, my back to my friend.

"I just… he… Conner…" I struggled to get out the words of what had happened, "he told Eli I didn't love him." Alex jumped up,

"WHAT? Why? Where is he? I'll castrate the bastard, where is my rusty spoon?"

"He said that Conner threatened to take his girls if he didn't tell Eli that we didn't love him," I closed my eyes and rested my head in my hands; "I don't know what to believe anymore. Lex, I don't trust him anymore."

"Oh Jai," Alex rushed over and wrapped her arms around me.

"Things just aren't the same without Eli," I whispered through tears, "what if we can't get him back?"

"You'll get him back, and things will go back to normal. You and Dave will get married and live happily ever after. You'll have millions of kids and completely forget about this," Alex said attempting to cheer me up,

"I'll never forget this and I just don't know how I'm ever going to trust Dave again. He said he'd never hurt me,"

"He's human, of course he's going to hurt you but he is a great guy. He loves you so much and he loves Eli. Somewhere deep down you know that he would have never said that if he didn't think it would be for good."

"How can telling Eli that we don't love him be for the good?" I asked.

I couldn't believe my best friend, she was siding with him? Siding with that monster? She was meant to be MY best friend. When I hate, Dave she's meant to as well but now she is siding with him? How could she.

"Because, Conner was threatening to hurt Eli and to take the girls. Do you really think that Dave would do something to intentionally bring harm to Eli?" I hung my head, something was telling me that Alex was telling the truth but there was so much pain, such a sudden breaking of trust,

"I don't know," I finally muttered.

"Jamison!" Alex growled and I rolled my eyes I hated when my friend used my full name.

"Alexandria!" I hissed back. Alex just shook her head and left the room, leaving me alone to finish packing.

Once my overnight bag was packed I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. There was something in the paint that made it sparkle. On winter nights Eli and I loved lying in my room with the lights off looking at the sparkling paint. Eli likened it to watching the stars at night, he used to say that we got lucky because in the summer we could watch the real stars and in the winter we could watch ones inside. Sometimes he would forget we were indoors, thinking that the sparkling ceiling were the real stars. He wanted to fly to the moon just so he could sit among the stars.

I could hear the soft voices of people downstairs and on the occasional burst of Alex's unmistakable laugh. With Alex there they probably didn't even realize that I was missing. I didn't even recognize that Dave hadn't spoken until I heard the deep rumble of his voice. The next thing I know I'm opening my eyes and the room is dark, I must have fallen asleep. Listening I could still hear Alex's laughter and I also heard the clattering of dishes, they were probably having dinner but I wasn't in the mood to join them.

After a couple of minutes there was a soft knock at the door, looking up I saw Dave holding a plate of food.

"I'm not hungry," I muttered rolling over.

"Hun, if we're going to go looking for Eli tomorrow you then need to eat," I scowled at the man I was meant to be marrying. I he knew he was right but wished he wasn't. I wished I never had to eat again, as if not eating would bring Eli home. Eventually I ate a little but remained in my room the rest of the night.

The next morning I took the longest flight of my life, I thought they were going North to get South and East to get West. But, eventually we got to Colorado and picked up the rental car. We arrived in Delta just after 1pm and upon detectives orders headed straight to the police station. The Delta detectives were as worthless as the ones in Minnesota but, they did give us permission to ask local businesses. Their permission was pointless in my mind, whether they'd agreed or not I was going to ask everyone and anyone if they'd seen my son or the man who'd taken him.

The search was somewhat futile; very few people would talk to us and those who did would claim they hadn't seen the pair. My slight glimpse of hope was beginning to fade; I thought I'd never find someone to help us. Around 9pm Dave realized that I hadn't eaten since the night before and made me stop at a small Chinese restaurant. Somewhat resigned I sat down and held up the picture of my son when a waitress came to take our order,

"Hang on!" The waitress said rushing to get the manager,

"Have you seen this boy?" I asked tiredly,

"Yes!" The manager nodded his head furiously,

"Have you seen this man?" Dave asked excitedly holding up a picture that Conner's mother had given us,

"Yes!" The manager nodded again,

"When"

"Yesterday! They come always!" The manager rushed out indicating that Conner and Eli were regular customers.

I noticed Dave had a look in his eye, he was thinking about something,

"Have they ever come in with someone else?" Dave asked.

"Yes, yesterday. They come with a lady, Mr. Conner not mention her name, she pretty. Junior he didn't like her, Mr. Conner say if he didn't be nice he'd get no food."

"Do you know where they live?" I asked excited for somewhat of a lead,

"Yes! Sometimes he call in, say it's too cold. We take food to him,"

"Can we have their address?"

"No, no, he good customer, good man. I can't say!" The manager shook his head and my heart broke, I was so close to finding my son but so far away.

"That man is not good. He took my son, Eli," I explained showing the picture of Eli once more,

"No, not Eli, Junior. Conner and Junior, not Conner and Eli, Conner and Junior," the manager explained determined I had the name wrong. Conner had 'changed' Eli's name. When we'd been together and had spoken about kids Conner had always said that he wanted his son to be named Conner Jr. I thought it was tacky and said that the closest he would ever get to that would be the middle name. I thought that having a kid named after a parent, unless it's a name centuries old, was trashy. It seemed that trailer trash families always had a 'Junior'. It looked like Conner had gotten his wish; Eli was now going by Junior.

"You must leave now!" The manager said pointing to the door. We still hadn't eaten but the manager didn't seem to care, we were putting his business at risk so we had to leave. Outside Dave led me over to a seat,

"So close, so close," I kept muttering.

"Excuse me; I know where Mr. Conner live!" A young man said, "I can take you, but you no tell my boss,".


	6. Chapter 6

**Dave**

I couldn't believe what Jim had done; he'd used Alex as tool giving Conner the tools he needed to take Eli. The ultimate revenge for Jamie breaking up with Conner was to take what mattered most. Jim had been known to do stupid things, he'd get drunk and sleep with an underage girl or get busted for fighting, but this was beyond stupid.

Listening to Alex's story my blood boiled, I couldn't find the words to express the way I felt but I'd show it. Alex said that she didn't want John, Randy and I to interfere but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. If he ever showed up in a WWE arena again we'd have his ass. As soon as Vince heard the story he'd give the man over to us before firing him, that's if we'd left anything for him to fire.

Even though Alex and I acted like we hated each other, we were friends and even if we weren't nobody deserved what Jim had done. Besides, I may want to hurt Jim, but John would want to kill him. If John got his way, and he is very good at getting his way, the man wouldn't live long enough for Vince to fire him. A simple in-ring 'accident' brushed over by the WWE legal department would see that the man would not get the chance to destroy anymore lives.

But, I had to admit, because of Jim, we had a glimpse of hope of finding Eli. We knew where he had been taken and while he might not still be there we had a starting point, a place to go and look as opposed to sitting on our asses doing nothing. Jamie didn't want me to go to Delta with her but; there was no way I was going to let her search alone. Besides, if we found Conner I had to show him what happened to people who mess with my family.

In Delta we kept coming up with dead-ends, no one had seen Conner or the boy he'd kidnapped. Finally I made Jamie stop, she hadn't eaten since the night before and needed food. We stopped at a small Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of town, I wasn't going to bother asking if they had seen who we were looking for but Jamie did. She wasn't going to give up until she had asked everybody in the entire town if they'd seen her boy.

We got a breath of hope, the two were regulars at the restaurant but the manager wouldn't tell us where they lived. As we left the restaurant, at the request of the manager, a young waiter came out saying he could take us to the house.

"He might not be there," the young boy said getting in the car, "the he got a call last night he took Junior and the lady left quickly. He said something about having to go away, Junior was crying. Junior said he just wanted to go home, and then Conner says that no one wanted him at home and he was doing Junior a favor".

My blood boiled and I instinctively reached out to grab Jamie's hand, if I hadn't of been driving I would have wrapped her in a protective hug. I couldn't bear to look at the woman but heard her gasp and the sobs that quickly followed. Road in front of me became tinged in red, who did that asshole think he was telling Eli that no one wanted him. I didn't doubt, and felt guilty every day, that Conner constantly used the words that I told him.



Conner had given me no choice, and it was tearing my family apart. My fiancé no longer trusted me, she could barely stand to look at me; after all I had sided with the man who was determined to destroy her life.

The young waiter directed us to the house he had delivered food to on more than one occasion. When we got there it was completely dark and looked abandoned, it made sense that Conner would pick an abandoned place. It would be too easy for someone to find him if he had his own.

I grabbed Jamie stopping her as she raced towards the building; I knew that if we entered without police permission we would end up in big trouble. Besides if anyone was going to enter without back up it was going to be me and I was hesitating. I could fight flesh but if the man had a gun I would be screwed, plus he could turn it on Eli. Despite this and if I was honest with myself, holding back Jamie was the only thing I could do to stop myself running in there, risk of gun and all.

The detectives finally arrived with two uniformed police officers. The officers went in first, ordering us to remain outside until they declared the area safe. Eventually they returned with the news that the place was empty, but there were signs that someone had been there recently and had left in a hurry. We were allowed into the building but it was relatively pointless, there was a couple of empty noodles packets, a bed sheet that had appeared to have been pulled off a bed and dragged half way down the stairs before being ditched, there was also a few items of miscellaneous clothing. Upstairs in one of the bedrooms was a figure sitting on the bed and Jamie rushed past me.

The woman collapsed as she got to the bed grabbing the elephant and hugging it close. Eli had either figured we were looking for him or saw the elephant as a sign of love that he no longer felt so he left it behind. The thought briefly crossed my mind that Conner may have left it there to taunt us.

Jamie hugged the elephant as if it was her son, not brave enough to let it go. She looked at me with the fact of a young child as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. I tried to wrap my arms around her but she shrugged me off, the elephant was somehow my fault. She didn't trust me anymore, I had hurt her son and as a result I had hurt her and it could all be seen in that small little elephant that she refused to let go. On the bed I noticed a piece of paper, a note written by the man who'd taken Eli,

"If you ever want to see him alive, you'll stop look!" So Conner was the one who'd left the elephant, something he knew we'd take an interest to, the perfect ploy to taunt us.

I think I was prepared for what happened when we got back to the hotel,

"We'll find him, I promise" I tried to sooth Jamie leading her to the room,

"No, I'll find him. As for you, you can just leave," the woman responded without even making eye contact.

"What?" I'd seen her eyes, the fear, the mistrust and a slight hatred.

"Leave, get out of my sight, go back to your daughters, go somewhere, anywhere as long as it's away from me,"

"Jai…"



"Don't start, just go," she said and my heart broke as she began to pull at the ring on her left hand, "and take this," she muttered placing her engagement ring in my hand. I caught a quick glimpse at her face and saw tears welling in her eyes.

It took everything I had not to let tears fall from my own eyes; she couldn't really be breaking off our engagement. I knew I'd hurt her, but surely she realized that what I said, the words that haunted me daily, were for Eli's own good.

I checked the sofa and sighed in relief when I discovered that it was a fold-out, it meant that the nearby closet would more than likely hold at least some sort of bedding; maybe a pillow and a light weight blanket. The threadbare sheets already on the mattress were better than nothing and I sighed once more as I began looking for the extra bedding. Jamie had disappeared into the bathroom but, we were in a suite. I wasn't going to make her give up the bed, especially when she was the one who kicked me out.

Making up the bed I began to think, there was no fight. Jamie had just ended it, tears in her eyes she placed the engagement ring back in my hand. It was over, the insane whirl-wind, completely perfect, absolutely heartbreaking relationship was over. I could barely comprehend it, my every thought was focused on figuring out, what exactly had happened and I barely heard my phone ring.

By the time I had pulled my phone out of my pocket, and fumbled to get it open the call had gone to voice mail. I quickly checked the missed calls and called them back,

"Hey Mel, what's up?"

"The others don't want me to tell you, but I have to especially with everything that's gone on with Eli,"

"What are you talking about?" I asked concerned by my daughter's rambling.

"Tanya, she left,"

"What do you mean?"

"At the beginning of the week she packed up and left. Said something about being sorry, that she didn't expect this to happen,"

"You girls have been in the house alone the whole week?" I asked in shock. I'd told my girls a little about what had gone on with Eli, but had neglected to tell them the threats Conner had made towards them. I had, however, told them to be careful and by no means end up alone.

"Yea, the Rach and Hailey didn't want you to know, but I had to tell you!"

"Alright, give me a minute and I'll call you back, I want to talk to all three of you," I replied already thinking up a plan in my head. I couldn't leave Jamie, no matter what she said so who could I call? Who could I get to watch my girls?

I mentally ran through my list of potentials but most of them were on the road, even Mark was travelling. Eventually I scrolled through my phone list and found my fourth favorite female in the world, Stephanie. I couldn't remember if Paul was still recovering from his latest surgery, but I knew Stephanie was at home with the kids and if she could look after my girl's I know that they would love to look after hers.



"I'd love to hun, I'll pack the girls up and we'll be on a plane first thing in the morning. Paulie is away on business with dad and Shane right now, but he gets back the day after tomorrow and I know he'll be more than happy to come stay with us,"

"Are you sure? I know you have Aurora and Murphy to look after,"

"Absolutely, it's no problem at all," Stephanie reassured me. I thanked the woman before calling my daughters back.

"Uh, hi dad," Rachel said, her voice thick with nervousness.

"Hey Rach, are Mel and Hailey with you?"

"Yea,"

"Put me on speaker then,"

"Hi dad," I heard Hailey's equally nervous voice.

"Hey Hails, Mel you there too?" I asked still not hearing the voice of my youngest.

"Yea,"

"Dad, are we in trouble?" Rachel asked.

"What do you think?"

"Yea, but dad it's not that big of a deal," my eldest two daughters whined.

I wasn't in the mood, my fiancé had just ended the relationship, my daughter's nanny had disappeared and no one had decided to tell me. I was still trying to work out what was going with Jamie and now my girl's had thrown this on me. I couldn't believe them and I felt hot tears begin to streak my face, I ignored them and focused on the task at hand,

"Eli got kidnapped, what makes you think that Conner won't go for you girls as well?" I asked sternly,

"I don't know, because, he's gunning for Jamie's family?" Rachel suggested,

"And you don't think that the second her and I became engaged you didn't become her family?" The memory of the day I proposed burned my heart, but I once again ignored it. I'd deal with the pain later, right then I had to deal with my daughters.

"Dad, what do you know that we don't?" Mel asked cautiously, she was so observant always picking up on the things that weren't said,

"That you need to have an adult with you at all times. You all, including you Rachel, need to be taken to school and picked up from school. You NEVER find yourself alone; you NEVER get in your car without someone checking it first. I'm not being an overprotective parent; I am simply trying to keep you girls safe!"

"Well then why aren't you here?" Hailey asked her voice thick with uncertainty.

Her question broke my heart, if there was anything left to break, I could protect my girls better than anyone else, but I was half way across the country. The simple comment bought me back to the work that had to be put in to restore our relationship, the relationship that was broken after me missing years of their lives.

"Because Eli got kidnapped and I have to find him," I replied, hoping the girls wouldn't pick up on the words I didn't say, the guilt I felt for not protecting Jamie and her son,

"Daddy, it's not your fault," Mel whispered,

"We're sorry Daddy," Rachel and Hailey muttered as they realized what I didn't want them to know.



"Stephanie will be there with her girls first thing in the morning and Paul will be there the day after,"

"Okay Daddy,"

"Paul? Uncle Paul is coming?" Rachel asked,

"Yea, Steph said he's on a business trip with Vince, but he'll join you when he gets back,"

"Dad Uncle Paul can't come!"

"Why not?"

"Because… Because… well you wouldn't understand!" Rachel rushed out,

"Rachel has a crush!" My youngest taunted.

"Um okay… If you have a crush on him, don't call him Uncle Paul that insinuates way too much!" I replied attempting to ignore actually thinking about my daughter being attracted to one of my best friends. In my mind her being attracted to anyone was wrong, but someone who was old enough to be her father and that she considered her uncle was a crime against nature.

I continued talking to my girls for a while before exhaustion began to set in, it had been a long day and tomorrow was going to be even worse. I said goodnight to my children and ended the call, I was in desperate need for the bathroom so I knocked on the bedroom door, the only entrance to the toilet.

"What?" Jamie asked, I could tell in the tone of her voice she'd been crying,

"I need to use the bathroom,"

"What are you still doing here?" Appearing to ignore her I opened the door and walked through the room to the small bathroom. After relieving myself I returned to the bedroom,

"I'm going back to Minnesota with you," I explained in a matter of fact tone.

"Says who?"

"Says me! Well that and the fact that my stuff is at your place. Anyway, I said I was going to help you find Eli and I mean it,"

"I don't want or need your help,"

"Sorry, you forfeited your vote,"

"I don't give you permission to stay at my place, which will make you a trespasser" Jamie shrugged; I could tell that she was beginning to get upset and it was tempting to use it to my advantage. But, it didn't matter how much I was hurting, I still loved her.

"I don't need your permission, just your parents. Now get some sleep, we've got to get up early to drive back to Denver. Goodnight," I explained leaving the room before she had a chance to respond, "by the way," I said ducking back, "I love you".


	7. Chapter 7

**Jamie's POV**

He had it coming, ever since the day he sided with Conner, he had it coming. I saw the tears in his eyes when I placed the ring in his hand, but he didn't let them fall. I heard his side of the conversation with his daughters and heard the frustration in his voice, but I tried to block it out. Then he came in to my room, he needed the bathroom, and we got into an argument. Right as he left he turned back,

"I love you," his words burnt my heart and I angrily wiped away my tears,

"It hurts doesn't it," he said noticing me wipe my eyes, "you just ripped my heart to shreds but I still love you," I noticed his voice break, he was trying to be smug, but he was in as much pain as what I was.

What had I done?

I made the right decision, I was sure of it. He had lied to us; he told Eli that we didn't love him. He hadn't protected us; he didn't hear my silent pleas. What kind of man was he? He was meant to be my knight in shining armor and he wasn't. If he loved us he would have stopped Conner taking Eli, he would have know the threat without me ever telling him. I silently cried myself to sleep; I couldn't let him know that he had power over me, or that I was upset, he might think I was starting to change my mind.

The next morning we drove back to Denver in complete silence, only speaking when we stopped by the police station to check if they had any information. They were as hopeless as the detectives back in Minnesota, they said that they didn't find anything we didn't already know, but they'd keep a look out for the suspect. They also said they'd faxed a report through to the detectives in Minnesota.

At the airport I let him check us in, after all he bought the tickets, and while he did I wondered why we were giving up the search for my son. I know Conner had left that note, but he only knew we'd been searching because of Jim. Without Jim in the picture how could Conner possibly know? Yet, here we were already leaving; we'd only arrived the day before. Who was to say that Conner wasn't still nearby? If he had banked on us being scared and running away with our tails between our legs, he would have seen no need to skip town. He could have even been next door when we searched his house; we could have been so close and not even know it. And instead of looking harder we're simply running away, tails tucked between our legs, letting Conner win yet another battle.

He tried to talk to me during the flight, the balls of him to get a seat right next to mine. Surely he hated my guts, I'd ended our relationship, told him to leave that I wanted nothing to do with him yet here he was sitting right beside me trying to strike up a conversation. I tried to listen to music, but he just wouldn't give up. In the end I asked the stewardess if there was a spare seat I could be moved to, unfortunately there wasn't but, he got the message and didn't say a word the rest of the flight.

"Don't say a word," I hissed at my parents as we stormed into the house. All his stuff was in my room so I went to my son's still clutching his elephant, the only time I'd let go of it was when we went through airport security. I figured that if I could hug the elephant hard enough maybe I'd be able to reach my son, if I hugged the elephant hard enough hopefully my little boy would feel his mother's arms around him.

"So… Who do I need to kill?" Alex asked wrapping her arms around me, I hadn't heard her come in the room but I wasn't surprised that my parents had called her. Ever since I got involved with Conner they would call Alex instead of being there for me. I guess the stuff with Conner was what really distanced me from my mother in the first place. They figured if I wouldn't talk to them at least I'd talk to Alex,

"Him!" I said pointing to the room next to my son's,

"What about Conner?"

"Him too. But HE is the reason Eli's gone," I hissed attempting to glare a hole through the wall.

"I thought that was Conner's fault too,"

"Whose side are you on? I thought you were meant to be my friend!"

"Sorry, sorry," Alex cried raising her hands in defense.

"Where's Jimmy?" I asked knowing that Alex tried to avoid bringing her son around these days. I also knew it wasn't one of Brian's days to have him, when he actually came through.

"John's looking after him,"

"John?" I asked raising an eyebrow; I was still pissed off but, needed to know who this John person was. Besides, anything to avoid talking about how big of jerks both of my ex's are.

"Cena,"

"What the hell is Cena doing here?"

"He came around yesterday, wanted to help search for Eli. Your mom said that there wasn't much he could do, but I told him he could stay at my place. Besides, Jimmy just loves him,"

"Your kid needs better taste!" I replied rolling my eyes, "and you're trusting Jimmy with CENA? He's a big kid himself,"

"So why is 'he' at fault?" Alex asked indicating to my bedroom and avoiding my insults,

"Because he didn't stop Conner,"

"I'm on your side but, he didn't know that there was any risk,"

"Well he should have! And he wouldn't let me go in when we got to the house," I growled trying to stay angry instead of letting the tears fall.

"What house?" Alex asked,

"We found where Conner had been staying," I realized that I could say the name of the man who had taken my son but not the man who I'd broken up with less than 24 hours earlier.

"Then why are you here? Why aren't you still looking?"

"That's what I want to know," I couldn't hold it any longer and let the tears fall,

"Come on Jai, you know Conner he would have been banking on you running with your tail between your legs," Alex said using nearly the exact same words as I had.

"He was probably next door the entire time," I sobbed, "I was outnumbered. The detectives told us to go home and HE agreed," I felt completely and utterly useless. Me, Jamison Alister, head photographer for WWE, me who took no crap from no one was outnumbered by a couple of men with badges?

"There was a note," I finally muttered hoping to give myself some excuse, some reason for giving up so easily,

"A note?"

"Saying if we ever want to see Eli alive again, we'll stop looking,"

"So, you stopped," Alex muttered, she had a child herself, she would have done the same thing.

"So, we stopped".

There wasn't much else to say, we'd said it all. For the first time in our friendship there was nothing that could be said or done to fix the problem. The tears fell and I let them, I thought I'd cried myself dry yet they kept coming, I couldn't escape them. At one point Alex disappeared, I told myself she would be back but it was hard to believe. However, after a few minutes she returned with two steaming cups of coffee.

The day past with not another word being shared between the two of us, I didn't move, I barely breathed and only ate when Alex forced me to. I don't even remember what I ate, it tasted like Styrofoam, but I choked it down at my friend's insistence. I didn't see my ex-fiancé that day, or any of my family for that matter, I guess Alex had kept them away. It was weird, I felt completely separate from them, in a distant world consisting of only my son's bedroom.

For about a week I consisted in the universe of Eli's room, the only time I left was when I needed the bathroom. Alex couldn't stay with me the whole time, but HE was there, bringing me meals and making sure I was still alive, I guess. I saw John once or twice; he'd bring in my meals trying to help out. However, he would always leave dejected, the man who was once able to always make me laugh was faced with a completely empty body, and my mind and soul were elsewhere.

At one point some shrink showed up, apparently my mother was deeply concerned over my state of mind and figured that I needed help. Well it backfired on her when the shrink sympathized with me, saying that if he was in my situation he'd be in the same state of mind, and that he thought was I dealing with everything as well as could be expected.

Eventually I decided to meander downstairs, I'd finally come to the realization that sitting in Eli's room crying wasn't going to get him back. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, Conner had threatened to kill my son if I kept looking and that petrified me.

Slowly making my way down the stairs I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. My father, bags in hand, was talking to HIM,

"Tell her I love her and I hope she finds Elijah,"

"His name is Eli. Are you really leaving?"

"Of course I am! There's nothing I can do here, I have a family and job I have to get back to,"

"You have a family right here!"

"You don't know anything! These people haven't been my family since I made the wise decision to walk out when that brat was 16!" The aggression I witnessed next I'd only ever seen displayed in the ring. The difference being that the in-ring aggression was only a show, what I saw next was completely raw and quite frightening.

The man I had dumped grabbed my father quite easily lifting him off his feet,

"That woman is no brat neither is her son, they are my family! My future wife and my future son and if I EVER hear you refer to either of them in a negative connotation again I will show you why they call me The Animal!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing, the man I'd left high and dry was defending me just days after I'd apparently broken my heart. He appeared to be in denial though, I'd ended things, there was no way I was going to marry that man!

"Get your filthy hands off me! I have a plane to catch,"

"Fine! Leave, but know this… If you walk out of Jamie's life now don't you EVER think you're going to walk back in again!" HE replied dropping the man,

"Who the heck are you to tell me what to do? She doesn't want you! We're not stupid; we know she dumped your sorry ass in Colorado! We heard the fighting, you've got nothing anymore buddy!" I saw my father smirk and HIS face dropped,

"Well if you're going to leave then get the hell out!" HE hissed opening the door.

A couple of tears began to slip down my face as I watched my father walk out of my life yet again. It didn't matter how old I was every time the man left it broke my heart, I felt like I was 10 again, the first time he left. He came back 3 months later but it wasn't the same after that, for the next 6 years he was coming and going from our lives then my mother rekindled an old relationship and saw that my father left for good. But he was still there, birthdays were cards and a couple of recycled gifts, Christmas wasn't much better. He walked out in the middle of my graduation and couldn't pull himself away from his 'new' family long enough to be there when my baby boy was born and then a couple of months later, Christened.

My mother had seen the exchange in the doorway and rushed to give my ex a hug, it was unfair that he was getting her affection when my heart was in a million pieces, his seemed to be quite fine, I left the landing and went to the bathroom with a sudden urge to brush my teeth remembering that I'd hadn't brushed them all week.

After a shower I began to feel little more human and finished my long journey downstairs, Alex was there with John, but Jimmy was no where to be seen, my mother was making food while the man of the hour was mysteriously absent.

"Where is he?" I asked Alex, knowing she'd realize that I wasn't talking about my father,

"Packing," A deep voice responded, I turned around and there he was bag in hand.

"You were right, it's over, I'm going home to my family," he said trying to hide the tears in his eyes, "Oh yeah, your _father_ said to say he loves you, but urgent business called him back home. He's sorry he couldn't stay but it was a matter of life or death," the man lied, clearly unaware that I'd seen the earlier exchange.

"Is everything alright with the girls?" I asked trying to hide my shock and my disappointed. I was surprised, I wasn't meant to be disappointed I should be happy. I was the one who'd broken off the engagement, I was the one who'd wanted him out of the house and now that he was leaving I desperately didn't want him to go, but there was no way I was going to let on.

"Everything is fine, but I do believe I'm not wanted here. I would hate to be a nuisance!" He sighed before saying goodbye and asking John to give him a lift to the airport.

And with that it was over… Or so I thought.


	8. Chapter 8

**DAVE**

I couldn't believe the balls of Jamie's father, he just decided out of the blue that he needed to go back to his precious family, that there was nothing that he could do here so why should he stay? Because Jamie needed him, she needed his comfort, his loving arms and the words that only a father can give. But he didn't care; it was only about him, always about him. The man had broken Jamie's heart one too many times and I wanted him to know that I wasn't going to let him do it again!

But, what I wasn't expecting is for him to know what I hadn't breathed a whisper of, Jamie had ended the relationship. Outside Jamie and me, Alex was the only one that knew. Jamie had told her and she'd offered me sympathy. But, I had no interest in the rest of the family discovering, I was certain that I could change Jamie's mind before anyone in the family had to be informed. But, they'd found out, without us saying a word they knew that things had changed. And when her father used that attack my defenses fell, there was nothing I could do to combat the man's words as they seeped into the deepest pits of my soul.

As the man walked out the door that I held open for him I made a decision, a decision that would change everyone's lives and hopefully Jamie and my current relationship status. I made the decision that I was going to get Eli back and I knew exactly how to do it, I just needed to make a couple of phone calls and I would be on my way. However, I needed to ensure that Jamie didn't know that I was going to look for the boy, I decided that I would tell her I was going home, and I would finally give her what she really wanted.

I watched as Jamie's father drove away then I felt arms wrap around me, when I turned it was Sandy, Jamie's mom,

"Why did you stay?" She asked softly giving me a hug,

"She needs me,"

"But, she dumped you,"

"I love her too much to just walk away, but maybe Peter was right, maybe going back to my family and job is the best idea," I muttered beginning to spin the trap that would get Jamie's baby boy back in her arms, "I'm going to go make a couple of calls and pack, I should leave as soon as possible especially since Jamie doesn't want me here,"

"Oh Dave…" Sandy muttered sadly as I turned and walked towards the bedroom where my stuff was stored.

I called my friend Rick, the Chief of Police in Virginia. I'd called him before about trying to help us find Eli but it was too far out of his jurisdiction, he was however keeping a private eye on my girls for me, while they were safe with Stephanie and Paul it was nice to know that someone with some police authority was on the watch as well. My reason for calling Rick was because he worked closely with the head of medicine at the University of Virginia, a man who would be able to get me the exact documents that I needed. He'd done some DNA testing for me a few years back, Tyson had begin to argue my paternity so we'd gotten the tests to prove that Mel was in fact my little girl.

What I was wanting from this man now, was for him to take those results and change the names, a simple slip from Mel Bautista to Eli Alister was an easy task for such a man. Rick said it could be done, it was illegal but for these purposes it could be done, however it was going to be costly. Rick may have been my friend but he was no idiot, if he was going to keep this covered he wanted to benefit from it, besides the Head of Medicine, who's name escapes me, was going to need to see a few greenbacks before he agreed to break the law. Money was the least of my worries, I was happy to fork over the amount Rick requested, anything to possibly get that little boy back in his mother's arms.

The trap was quickly laid; I would fly into Virginia and spend the night with my girls before getting the paperwork in the morning and catching another flight out to Colorado. I suspected that Jamie was right; Conner had expected us to run so he hadn't. The scene at the Chinese restaurant had been just that, a scene. Conner knew we'd come looking and would eventually find his restaurant of choice, when Jim had called while they were having dinner Conner overreacted, already forming a plot in his mind.

I said goodbye to Jamie, noticing the longing in her eyes, I wondered if she was having doubts about ending out relationship. While I hoped she was, I didn't want to dwell on the matter too long. It was going to be a long trip that could very easily end up as a failure; I was taking a risk that could result in numerous people being killed. I could deal with that risk but, the second Eli's life was threatened I was willing to pull out straight away. Conner could kill anybody he liked but if Eli lost his life, Jamie's would end as well and I couldn't bear to think of that happening.

My daughters were ecstatic to see me; I hadn't told them I'd be home so showing up was a nice surprise for them. Unfortunately, their excitement was short lived when I was forced to tell them I would only be home for the night. However, I let them in on my plan, telling them that I had found a way to bring Eli home but, if Jamie called they had to tell her I was with them just unable to come to the phone. I neglected to tell my girls about the ending of our relationship, but Stephanie wasn't as oblivious as the girls. After they'd gone to bed and Paul, Stephanie and I were talking Steph looked at me and simply asked,

"When?"

"When what?" I replied completely confused,

"When did she break up with you?"

"While we were in Colorado," I muttered still confused and not sure how she found out.

"I can see it in your eyes, it's obvious. Besides Alex told John and John called me," Stephanie smiled giving me a hug. I explained what happened and Stephanie started to cry,

"Sorry post-pregnancy hormones," she muttered, "She doesn't want to break up with you,"

"Could have fooled me," I replied not wanting to share my thoughts on the situation,

"She's scared and angry and breaking ties with you is just her way of dealing with things, though based on what you've said it doesn't look like she's dealing with it that well," Stephanie said,

"Yeah," I muttered yawning, "I think I'm going to head to bed, long day tomorrow I'm off to go fight the devil".

Stephanie gave me a hug and Paul made a smart ass comment about me making a move on his girl, but I knew he didn't mean anything by it. The next morning my family were sad to say goodbye as I headed to the University and then the airport. The Head of Medicine at the University was a doctor by the name of Mark Johnson, his name had no real significance except for the fact that he shared The Rock's last name. Anyway Dr. Johnson wanted $10,000 for doing something as simple as changing the names on the DNA results. He was happy for most of it to be transferred electronically but insisted that I brought $2,000 with me when I showed up. That was no big deal, I had gone to the bank on the way home from the airport and had the money ready to exchange for the document that I hoped would get my son, I mean Jamie's son back.

The exchange was simple, I was led to the man's office by his secretary who shut the door on the way out, I handed over the money and he handed over the documents. Once we both had what we wanted we departed ways, barely a word said between us.

After getting the documents I headed for the airport and checked in only to realize that my stomach was growling. The night before I dropped my clothes off at home and exchanged my suitcase for an overnight bag, I had no intention of staying in Colorado a long time. I suspected where Conner may be refusing to consider what I would do if he'd skipped town. In my mind, that was not an option, Conner had to still be in Colorado, I knew it deep down.

Checking in was a breeze as was going through security, I was travelling with an overnight bag, my cell phone, my wallet and the documents, no liquids, no laptops, and no weapons. The only issue with security was that the guard heard my stomach growl and raised an eyebrow suggesting that I find something to eat before I get on the plane.

I tried to sleep on the plane, with some avail, however my mind was racing I needed to find Conner and the little boy that he had taken. I was sure that with the documents and the little helper another friend was hooking me up with when I landed, I would get Eli back.

Upon landing in Denver I was greeted by a friend, whose name is of no consequence, who was going to hook me up with a little 'helper', something to reinforce the documents that I had bought. My friend also lent me a car, saving me the hassle of rentals.

After saying goodbye to my friend and thanking him for his help I drove non-stop to Delta. Upon arrival I checked into the same hotel Jamie and I had stayed in just a few nights earlier. I needed to take my time, ensure everything was well planned out, but I also needed to move quickly if he got a whisper that I was in Delta, he could skip town or hurt Eli.

I spent 2 hours going over my plan and as the sun was beginning to set I found myself back in the car heading to the house on the outskirts of town. I knew the police weren't going to be around and I knew that Conner wasn't going to be in the house but, there was an equally desolate house one street over. From what Jamie had said it was exactly the sort of thing the bastard would have been attracted to.

Once I pulled up to the front gate I sat in the car for a moment ensuring that I had everything that I needed, my documents and my little 'helper'. I realized that I was unbelievably nervous, my heart had been beating a million times faster than normal since I left Jamie's house the day before. Something in the backseat caught my eye and I turned to find a bottle of scotch with a note attached, "Dutch Courage", was all it said and I knew my friend had put it there, just in case. Why I hadn't seen it before I didn't know and while it sounded attractive I wasn't going to risk putting Eli at harm just because I wasn't thinking straight.

I whispered a few words to the God that Jamie believed in and finally got out of the car. In one hand I held the documents and in the opposite pocket I held my little 'helper', hoping beyond anything that I wouldn't need it. I had decided on the direct approach, I walked straight up and knocked on the door,

"Pizza!" I announced hoping Conner would fall for the oldest trick in the book,

"About bloody…" The bastard began stopping mid-sentence when he saw me, "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to get my son," I replied simply.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"I'm here for Eli," I replied pushing past him and into the room. Glancing around Eli was nowhere to be seen but I saw a flight of stairs and heard a soft whimper coming from above. I ignored Conner's protest and headed for the flight of stairs,

"You're trespassing!" He hissed,

"So are you!" I responded not stopping. I reached the top of the stairs and decided to take a risk, "Eli?" I called gently hoping for a response. All I heard was a louder whimper coming from down the hallway.

I ran down the hall looking in each other the rooms; the whimper gave indication that Eli may be hurt. I found him huddled in a corner in the last room, the bathroom, his face was bruised and his arm looked slightly crooked, it didn't take an idiot to work out it was broken. I scooped the young boy up in my arms and carried him down the stairs. Conner was still on the lower floor muttering protests,

"He's not your son… He's MINE!" He hissed when I returned, the young boy in my arms was shaking and clearly petrified.

"Think again," I smirked adjusting my grip on Eli and handing Conner the documents.

"Jamie had the tests done about a year ago, just after we started dating. We'd had one night together right after you left; she was just a ring rat, who knew she'd end up being mother to my baby and even more so that we'd begin dating!" I lied.

I hope that Conner would buy it and a moment later he was convinced, I didn't give him a chance to change his mind. The second he began to believe my lies I walked out with Eli. My intentions were to put him in the car and drive back to Denver, getting on a plane to Minnesota that night. But seeing the shape the young boy was in I knew it was going to be hard just to get to Denver. It took twice as long as normal with the boy needing constant caring, something that was hard to do while trying to drive.

We arrived at St. Anthony's hospital in Denver around 2 am. The nurse took one look at Eli and rushed him in, he was greatly dehydrated but, during the trip down I couldn't keep him hydrated, within minutes of me giving him a drink he'd throw it back up again. I knew his arm was broken and was worried about the rest of him. While the doctor was with Eli I called the police and let them know what happened, I told them that there was a chance Conner was still standing there completely stunned.

Then I called Jamie,

"She doesn't want to speak to you, besides it's 2 friggen am!" I received when the phone was answered,

"Alex, put her on. It's important,"

"She doesn't want to speak to you," Alex repeated again,

"I have Eli," I replied knowing that Alex would immediately hand the phone over,

"What?"

"I have Eli, we're at St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver. I've organized for you to get the first plane out of Minnesota in the morning,"

"How?" Jamie asked, I could hear a sob catch in her throat,

"I'll tell you when you get here. Oh one more thing, he's not in good shape," I said deciding it was best to give her an idea of what to expect,

"What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure yet, all I know is that he's severely dehydrated and has a broken arm, I'm waiting for the doctor to tell me more,"

"Okay… Thanks" I heard Jamie mutter as the call ended.

"You're welcome," I muttered to a dead line.


	9. Chapter 9

**Jamie POV**

My father left and Dave was soon to follow, the words that my father said to him made him realize he wasn't wanted. However, as soon as he walked out the door I wanted nothing more than him. I wanted Dave Bautista in my life, but I couldn't ignore the things he had done, the lies he'd told.

I really didn't expect to hear from him again, yet barely 24 hours later my phone rang. It was in the wee hours of the morning and Alex was over, Bryan had Jimmy so Alex had come over to keep me company. I was dozing when the phone rang, Alex answered it and I knew straight away it was Dave. I didn't want to talk to him, figuring that he was lonely and going to beg back my forgiveness. Then my best friend handed me the phone in shock,

"What?" I asked annoyed at being disturbed.

"I have Eli, we're at St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver. I've organized for you to get the first plane out of Minnesota in the morning,"

"How?" I couldn't believe the man's words. He couldn't really have my son, there was no way, Conner was a crazed lunatic, how could Dave, get Eli back?

"I'll tell you when you get here. Oh, one more thing he's not in good shape," I couldn't hold back my sob, my poor son.

"What's wrong?" I dared to ask, not really wanting to know the answer.

"I'm not sure yet, all I know is that he's severely dehydrated and has a broken arm, I'm waiting for the doctor to tell me more,"

"Okay… Thanks" I finally muttered ending the call. I couldn't believe it, but I was going to get on a plane in a couple of hours.

I packed my bag not knowing how long I was going to be in Denver for. I wondered what I would find when I got to the hospital, was my son's life hanging in the balance or would he be the cheerful little boy I'd last seen a couple of months earlier?

At 5am Alex drove me to the airport; I left a note on the kitchen counter saying that I'd gone to Denver, not giving any specific reasoning. As far as I was concerned my family didn't deserve to know that Eli was back, not until I had him in my arms and I knew for certain that it was my little boy.

Alex spoke about John while she drove anything to keep her awake. I could tell she was falling for him, though only God knows why, but I couldn't do much more than let her ramble. My life was falling to pieces I'm just glad hers was starting to make some sense.

Jim had been in Alex's life for around the same time Dave had been in mine, but she was bouncing back from his betrayal quite well. I just hoped that John wasn't going to end up as a rebound guy. I may constantly make fun of him, but John was a good person, his biggest flaw was being a sap and a sucker. He'd fallen for Alex the day I'd introduced them and with Jim now out of the picture he had his chance, I just hoped that Alex didn't blow it, it would be all too easy to simply use the man then leave him high and dry. Luckily Jimmy loved John and Alex's relationships were greatly influenced by her 5 year old son.

"Go get your boy, if you need me I'm just a plane ride away," Alex hugged me as she pulled up to check-in. The two and a half hour flight dragged on and I couldn't get off the plane quick enough. A man met me at the airport and drove me to the hospital, my heart was beating a million times faster than usual, I couldn't believe I was so close to holding my son again, but I was petrified by what was going to be waiting for me at the hospital.

Dave was waiting for me at the entrance,

"He's upstairs in the PICU, there's some things you need to know," Dave started, slowly leading me to the elevator, "he's in a medical induced coma, they did emergency surgery to reduce swelling in his brain, he was apparently hit across the head, he's going to need more surgery to fix his broken arm and he's severely dehydrated. They won't know the psychological aspects until he wakes up, at the moment he's in too much pain. He's got minor cuts and bruising. Oh yeah, they've also done a rape kit…" Dave said leading me to the nurse's station at the PICU. The news was shattering, but I kept telling myself that I had to be strong for my baby boy.

The second they led me into the room where my four year old son was lying I lost it. My strong, outgoing little boy was a complete mess, so many tubes coming out of him you didn't know where the machines stopped and he started. I collapsed at the foot of the bed only to feel familiar strong arms around me; I didn't have the strength to fight them. We'd waited so long to get my baby boy back, only to have him be in such bad shape. At least he was with us.

Dave had directed me outside into the waiting room, we didn't want to disturb the other children, and I remembered something. I opened my suitcase and pulled out my son's elephant, with all the strength I could muster I checked with the nurse and re-entered the room. Again I was taken back by my son's condition, but pushed that aside and put his elephant down with him wrapping his good arm gently around it so the toy wouldn't fall,

"I love you baby boy," I whispered sitting down.

The doctors had shaved most of his head in order to release the swelling in his brain and in place of his hair was now a thick bandage. His left arm was heavily bandaged, but you could still see a slight distortion, his face was badly bruised and he looked thin and pale. His breath was ragged and it scared me, but the nurse was quick to tell me that it was okay; because he was so dehydrated he had to fight for his lungs to work. But, they were administering liquids intravenously and he would soon be able to relax a little.

"The rape kit?" I asked nervously.

"You'll have to wait to speak to the doctor about that one," the nurse informed me before checking Eli's vitals and leaving.

I was determined to wait by my son's side until the doctor came, I knew Dave was nearby, but my son needed all my attention. I didn't even think to give Alex the call I promised her, I knew she would've tracked my flight online and know that I had landed safely. Hopefully she'd take the lack of calls as a sign that things weren't too good.

Around midday the doctor did his rounds, stopping at every kid's bed and talking to their parents before finally getting to my son,

"You must be Eli's mom, I'm Dr. Jake Dutcher," the man said holding out his head,

"Jamie," I muttered briefly shaking the doctor's hand; I wasn't interested in introductions, just knowing what was wrong with my little boy.

"Your little boy is very lucky, Mr. Bautista briefly explained what happened and if he hadn't arrived when he did I'm afraid you'd be visiting the morgue,"

"The rape kit?" I whispered frightened of the answer and eager to change the topic, the last thing I wanted to think about was my little boy in the morgue.

"The tests show foreign fluids in your son's anal passages. It is going to take up to two weeks to get the results on who the fluids belong to, but looking at your face I'm guessing you have a good idea already," the man's voice had nearly completely downed out I could hear the blood rushing through my head and could only see red.

Absently I nodded and headed out of the room, I had only one thing on my mind, the death of the man who'd taken my son. Dave saw me coming and intercepted,

"He's in custody; he's going away for a long time!"

"He should be dead," I hissed, all my good will and forgiving nature going out the window, the man had hurt my son,

"I agree! But, right now, there is nothing we can do except stay with Eli," Dave said calmly, "he needs you".

I looked up at Dave, he was being so calm, so gentle, so loving and after I'd dumped him, I couldn't believe it, the man I was talking to couldn't have been the man I'd dumped. Where was the anger and fighting? Why was he still talking to me after what I'd done to him? How could he still love me when I'd made it clear I wanted nothing to do with him?

"I'm not like other guys," Dave whispered in my ear as if he had read my thoughts.

The doctor came out of the PICU after finishing his rounds,

"Is Eli going to be okay?" I asked fearfully,

"I think so; he's got swelling in the brain and is going to need surgery later to repair his arm. His lungs aren't working to capacity at the moment so we're keeping an eye on that and he is clearly dehydrated. The tests for STDs are in the process of coming back negative so that's a good sign. Once the swelling goes down we'll know a lot more," The doctor explained, he hadn't said much more than Dave or the nurses, but he at least seemed positive about my son's health.

I let Dave wrap his arms around me, despite everything I felt safe in his arms. I just hoped that I wasn't giving him the idea that there was still something between us. The doors to the waiting room opened and I absently looked around Dave to see who had entered. The moment my eyes connected with the couple walking in the door I pulled away from Dave and ran to meet them,

"Uncle Vince, Aunt Linda!" I cried running into the open arms of the two people who were closer to me than most of my real family.

Uncle Vince and Aunt Linda had been around the entire time Eli had been gone, they were personally funding the search parties and had paid for the flights to Colorado. They'd wanted to come and help look, but I refused to let them, my pride getting the better of me. They weren't technically family and I couldn't pull them away from theirs to help me,

"It's all organized, as soon as he's well enough to move you and Eli will be flown back to Minnesota, I've organized for the best pediatric surgeon in the country to come and he'll operate on Eli's arm," Uncle Vince explained taking charge. I let Aunt Linda lead me to a chair and let her hold me, though I did briefly wonder how they knew what was wrong with Eli,

"Dave called us! I don't know what you're thinking he's a good man and he loves you," Aunt Linda muttered when Vince took Dave to get coffee,

"Not now," I responded.

"He's going to be okay," Aunt Linda whispered holding my head to her chest.

Three days later Eli was declared stable enough to fly back to Minnesota, upon arrival we were met by the surgeon Uncle Vince had organized to operate on Eli's arm. They operated the next day. But, Eli was in a coma for two weeks before the swelling began to go down and they were able to wean him off the drugs keeping him sedated. During that time Conner had been refused bail, all the evidence was against him.

Dave had stayed the entire time as had Aunt Linda. Alex would leave Jimmy with John and spend as much time as she could with me at the hospital but, I kept sending her home her own little boy needed her. Bit by bit Dave began to tell the story of how he got Eli back, I couldn't believe he simply walked in and took him. However, I was worried that the fake documents were going to come back a haunt us. Dave kept reassuring me that the documents had already been dealt with and Conner's claims wouldn't hold water.

My son opened his eyes two weeks and two days after Dave had gotten him back,

"Eli," I whispered as my little boy blinked a couple of times and looked at me, he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but no sound came out. I noticed tears in his eyes and realized he was afraid,

"Shh, its okay, you're safe now," I whispered carefully patting his hand; he didn't say a word just turned his head away. The simple movement bought tears to my eyes, my little boy hated me, after all it was my fault, I'd let it happen.

"Good morning Jamie," Dr. Michaels smiled as he walked in the room. Dr. Michael's had taken on Eli's case when he'd arrived in Minnesota; he was a young doctor, close to my age and fairly attractive. However, attraction was the last thing on my mind, all I cared about was if he could make my son healthy again and he was certainly doing a decent job so far.

"How's the little man doing this morning?" He asked looking at Eli's chart. Eli turned his head to look at the doctor and I could tell he'd been crying, his silent tears had left streaks down his young face, "Ah, I see you've finally decided to join us," Dr. Michaels smiled at my son,

"Who are you?" Eli whispered slowly,

"I'm Dr. Michaels; you gave us quite a scare little man".

Eli cried when Dr. Michaels checked his heart beat and his healing arm. My son was scared and confused. Once he was done Dr. Michaels gave Eli a light sedative and sent the boy back to sleep. He woke again to the sound of Dave's voice, the man spent each night at a hotel, I wouldn't let him stay at the hospital he had no right.

"Where's my daddy?" Eli asked seeing Dave, "you took me from my daddy," he cried his voice barely reaching above a whisper. My son still wouldn't look at me but, he was angry at Dave he cried kicking out at the man.

Eli was in hospital another week before I was able to bring him home, I wasn't too keen on taking him back to my mother's house but, we had no where else to go. Dave drove us back from the hospital and I carried my little squirming boy into the house taking him to his room, he was very weak and still quite drowsy he'd slept the whole trip back to the house and only woke up when, much to his dismay, I picked him up. He was asleep nearly as soon as I lay him in his bed, but I sat there and read his favorite bedtime book, the Bible.

At my request uncle Vince forced Dave back to work so I was able to deal with my son by myself, well with the help of Alex and her houseguest. Dave called occasionally, I spoke to him when necessary but, things were never going to be the same between us. I found myself lying awake at night trying to figure out why my son still wouldn't look at me and longing for the man I'd broken up with, the man who'd returned Eli.


	10. Chapter 10

**Dave**

My plan hadn't worked… Once I got Eli back, Jamie was meant to realize how much she loved me and accept me back. It started that way; at the hospital in Denver she would turn to me and let me hold her, but when we got back to Minnesota things changed. I got called back to work, Vince wouldn't have any more excuses he said that too many of his main eventers were injured and he couldn't afford to not have me. I knew Jamie was behind it, Vince would do anything for his surrogate niece.

Eli had been in bad shape when I'd left. A week before he'd angrily woken from his coma, not looking at his mother and hissing words of hatred at me. The psychological effects were quickly becoming clear, Conner had brain washed him, convinced the boy that we were his enemies and Conner was the only one who loved him.

I had gotten Eli back, rescued him physically, but it was going to be a long hard battle to get him back from the hell Conner had created in his mind. They called it Stockholm syndrome, where a victim had become dependent on their captor, I called it manipulation. Conner had manipulated us into telling Eli lies and then he used them to convince the four year old boy that they were true.

I had driven Jamie and Eli home from the hospital and it broke my heart to see the broken little boy and his distraught mother. At Jamie's place she picked the sleeping boy up to carrying him to his room and he woke, thrashing angrily. He truly believed that we'd taken him away from his 'daddy'.

"I go back to work tomorrow," I explained once Jamie came back down stairs, I heard Eli's screaming and wanted to help, but she had told me to leave her alone.

"You're not staying?" Alex asked, John and she had come over wanting to help with Eli,

"No, Vince has threatened me with a lawsuit if I don't go back, besides it's been made clear that I am not wanted," Jamie flinched at my comment, but continued making coffee.

"But you're needed," Alex replied.

"Need, but not wanted, besides John's here, he's always bragging about how he could kick my butt, surely he's better than me," I shrugged smirking.

"And don't you forget it GQ," John replied smiling. I watched as he stretched back subtly putting his arm around Alex,

"John, you're not in high school. If you're going to make moves on someone just come out and do it, it's simple… Watch me, Alex will you like to go to dinner with me?" I said turning to Jamie's best friend and asking her on a date. Jamie turned around and dropped the coffee cup she was holding before storming out the room. My fake move on her best friend was too much.

I stood there for a moment dumb founded,

"Go upstairs! I'll clean up," Alex pushed me towards the door, "idiot" she muttered under her breath as I walked upstairs. I got half way up before stopping, why was I even bothering? Jamie didn't love me anymore, she didn't want me in her life, and she'd broken up with me, not the other way around. I turned around and walked out the door, I'd been staying at a hotel so it was easy to just walk away.

Before completely walking away there was just one more place I had to go, one more man I had to see. I called ahead, and then drove over an hour out to the Minnesota Correctional Facility where Conner was being held. His court date had been pushed back a month, but bail was constantly being denied, it didn't help that he was aggressive.

The sun was slowly starting to set when I finally pulled into the parking lot of the facility, I explained who I was and was taken to a room with chairs either side of glass panels. It looked like something straight out of a movie and I was instantly glad that I never had to spend time in this place, children's homes and juvenile detention centers had been more than enough for me. I sat down at the chair closest to the door and was told to wait, it was visiting hours, but there was only one other person in the room visiting with a loved one. I watched the woman on the phone for a moment, she was muttering sweet nothings to a man I couldn't see and I couldn't help wonder what he had done to end up here.

Across from me a door opened and a security guard led Conner towards me. The moment he saw me Conner tried to turn around and while I couldn't hear him I knew that he was begging the officer to take him back to his cell. Unfortunately for him the officer was a friend of mine, while I'd had plenty of negative run-ins with the law I also found myself with a few friends in law enforcement. I found it always worked to my benefit.

The officer forced Conner to sit down and I could tell he was ordering him to pick up the phone.

"What do you want?" Conner hissed into the phone,

"I want to make sure that you're miserable, that you're never leaving this place,"

"Oh, I'll be out soon enough!" Conner responded,

"I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you rot in this place for the rest of your life! You ruined our lives so I'm going to make sure I ruin yours!"

"Ruined your lives? You mean the way I played you and got you to tell that brat that you didn't want him, and how I managed to make your precious fiancé hate you! It's just a little thing I call payback! That bitch lied to me, she broke my heart!" Conner smirked, "We're in the same boat Davie, and she played us for fools then tore our hearts in two,"

"We will NEVER be in the same boat," I hissed, "I am NOTHING like you,"

"Oh you're just like me," Conner responded, "we even look alike, and why do you think she fell for you in the first place? Don't you get it? You were played!"

At that moment I was very grateful that there was glass separating us,

"If you ever get out of here, I will hunt you down and kill you! I will get my own payback for everything you did to her and to that little boy!" I growled jumping up at the screen. I felt two strong arms wrap around me causing me to drop the phone,

"That's it! No more, you're done," The officer barked in my ear as I struggled against him, "get out of here or you'll find yourself spending the night in lock-up," the officer led me out of the room and pushed me down the hallway. I walked away still angry, but feeling better at having let Conner know that I wasn't going to let him get off easy.

I got back to my hotel well after dark. My stomach was growling so I'd stopped for food, it tasted like ash. At the hotel I called the airline, I wanted to see my family and if I had to go back to work the next day then I definitely wanted a little bit of time with them. An hour later I was back in my rental, heading for the airport, the airline had put me on standby with good prospects, if I was happy to fly coach. I hadn't flown coach in years, but the need to see my girls was stronger than the most uncomfortable seat an airline could muster.

I got on a seat the first flight. I'd been at the airport just 20 minutes when they called my name, they gave me business class seats and I was on my way home. The taxi pulled up to my place just after midnight, the house was in darkness and I knew my girls would be asleep. Steph and Paul were still keeping an eye on them and I hoped that one of them would still be awake. It was now Sunday and I was due to be on my way to New York in 6 hours. I wasn't going to be in a match until Monday, I hadn't wrestled in months. My only chance of getting time with my girls was getting Steph or Paul to call Vince and convince him to let me fly in on Monday.

Paul was still awake, watching a movie in the living room, since his latest injury he wasn't sleeping well. I spoke to him briefly, he was surprised to see me home, but happy to contact Vince first thing in the morning. I said goodnight and went upstairs to check on my girls, Mel and Hailey was sleeping like angels, but Rachel was still awake working on her computer.

"Hey Rach, what are you still doing up?" I asked softly,

"Dad! You're home?" She responded jumping up to hug me, I let myself relax holding my eldest tightly.

"Yeah, I go back to work tomorrow, but I had to see my girls before I did," I sighed,

"Back to work? Why aren't you staying with Jamie and Eli?" Rachel asked pulling away and sitting back at her computer,

"Vince threatened to sue if I didn't come back. Besides, I'm not wanted there," I shrugged, "what are you doing?"

"I have a paper due soon and I'm struggling to write it. The research is so hard,"

"What class?" I asked sitting on her bed.

"Psychology, it's on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Rachel explained carefully, "I just keep thinking of Eli, the stuff he's probably going to go through. It's unfair!"

"It is, it is unfair and it's hard and it's stupid and no one deserves it let alone a nearly five year old boy," I responded sadly.

"It's his birthday next month isn't it?" Rachel sighed,

"Yep, June 22nd, two weeks after Mel's," I sighed thinking about how much had happened since he had turned 4, "it's late," I said standing up, "you need to get some rest,"

"Okay dad," Rachel smiled closing her laptop "are you alright?"

"No, not really, but that's life," I responded not bothering to lie to my daughter. Rachel jumped up and wrapped her arms around me.

I said goodnight to Rachel and headed to bed, seven hours later I got a phone call,

"Dave, I know it's early, but get up and spend the day with your daughters. Dad says you can fly to New York tomorrow," Steph said. Paul and she would always call me if I was upstairs always muttering something about not wanting to see things. After the call I lay back down for a couple of minutes as Steph's words echoed in my head. All of a sudden I jumped up; I had a whole day to spend with my girls. I threw some jeans on and bolted out my door to my girls' rooms, planning what we would do together.

"Mel, Hailey, Rachel! Wake Up!" I called knocking on each of their doors,

"What do you want Uncle Paul?" Mel yawned stepping out of her room, "DAD?" She asked eyes big,

"Yep, and we get to spend the whole day together," I smiled as Mel and Hailey tackle hugged me.

"Only the day?" Hailey asked carefully,

"Yeah, I have to back to work tomorrow," I sighed, "but, today we are going to the zoo!"

"The zoo? I haven't been to the zoo since I was a kid," Hailey raised an eyebrow,

"Well then it's a good time to go back," I smiled, "besides, I promise you it'll be just us three, when was the last time that happened?"

"Not since…" Mel trailed off,

"Yeah, come on go get dressed, I'll take you out for breakfast,"

"Sounds good," the girls smiled, I knew free food was always the way win them over.

I had a fantastic day with the girls, their little kid sides came out at the zoo and I couldn't help, but chuckle as they cooed over all the different animals. It was hard saying goodbye to them the next morning, but I knew I'd see them at the end of the week. It was the first time in months that we knew the next time we'd see each other.

Four months passed and I wasn't anywhere near getting over Jamie, some days it hurt so much that I could barely breathe. I loved her and nothing was going to change that, I would always love her. My only consolation was that John gave me weekly updates. The first update was that he'd finally gotten the balls to ask Alex out, who had accepted, things were going great with them, and he was even throwing around words like love and marriage.

The rest of the news wasn't so great. They'd found the woman accompanying Conner, her name was Leah and she happened to be Tanya's daughter. Tanya had been passing on information to her family, just general conversational things, she never expected Leah to be taking it to Conner.

Two months after being home I found another housekeeper for the girls, this time it was a couple, in their early 30s, they had no children and little contact, but a good relationship with the rest of their family and I stressed the importance of confidentiality. I'd had my friend, Rick, check them out and they were clean. They were Christian's like Jamie and their church gave really good references. When they moved in Steph and Paul moved their family back to Connecticut, I could never express how much their help had meant to me.

Conner and Leah's trials came up during the four months and both were found guilty. Leah was charged with accessory to kidnapping and sentenced to four years. Conner was charged with kidnapping, pedophilia, breaking and entering, aggravated assault and a few other minor offenses; he received 15 years with no parole. Apparently the judge had told him that parole was only for people who learnt their lessons whereas he was simply bragging.

Things weren't going well with Eli and Jamie. Eli would only ever speak in anger unless Jimmy was around, then he began to resemble a normal kid, though the first time playing together he had destroyed most of his wrestling toys. He'd turned 5 and I was so proud of my girls who each insisted on sending presents; books from Mel, coloring stuff from Hailey and Mini Tonka Trucks from Rachel. I had asked around and found out that he needed a new bed; he'd grown too big for the toddler bed I'd bought the year before so I ordered one and got it sent anonymously. John said Eli slept better in the big bed and it was appreciated all around.

Jamie and Eli were going to counseling, but it didn't seem to be working so I decided to talk to Vince. I encouraged him to get Jamie back to work, we had a good counselor on staff and Eli would benefit from being around the likes of Mark and Glen, maybe he wouldn't be so angry being around other people. Vince wasn't sure at first, he didn't think Jamie would buy into it, but after a couple of weeks he finally gave in and began talking to his 'niece' about returning to work.

John told me Jamie was going to join us in Nashville on October 10th, but there was one thing she wanted to do before she came back to work. Jamie had confided in Alex, who, knowing that John was my messenger, had confided in him, that she was going to go see Conner. Jamie had decided it was time to confront the man who had succeeded in destroying her life. I don't know why she wanted to see him; I just hoped she got more peace from it than I did. After Jamie saw Conner I began to receive a series of hang up calls, all from Jamie.


	11. Chapter 11

**Jamie's POV**

I couldn't believe it. Dave was flirting with my best friend; I'd barely broken up with him and he was already trying to pick up girls. I just couldn't believe it; I dropped my cup and stormed out. I half expected him to follow me and I heard Alex sending him my way but he didn't come. I heard a door slam and then a few moments later John showed up at my door, making sure that I was okay.

The next few months were hell. Eli was always angry, he wouldn't talk instead he just sat there staring at people. His counselor was pretty useless; she said he had post traumatic stress disorder and Stockholm syndrome. In my opinion it didn't take a genius to figure that out! Eli wouldn't play either, he had plenty of toys, but I couldn't get him to play with any of them, he just sat there, it was all part of the psychological issues.

Eli's 5th birthday was a month or so after I bought him home from the hospital and we were going to have just a family celebration. It'd been a stressful year and so we were having a quiet day. I'd gotten him a small Go Diego Go cake and we had a few presents for him and presents had arrived from Dave's girls. There was nothing from Dave; however a 'big boy' bed had anonymously arrived days earlier. I knew it was from Dave, but I wasn't going to let on. Alex had told me that John, who she was now dating, was giving Dave updates. I was secretly glad that he knew what was going on, but I was still angry, he had betrayed us.

On Eli's 5th birthday, Alex showed up with Jimmy. I hadn't let her bring Jimmy over since we'd gotten Eli back. When I had told her things were just family, I'd forgotten that Alex considered herself family. Alex and Jimmy showed up just in time for cake and for the first time since everything had happened I saw my son's face light up. He actually smiled,

"Jimmy!" he called and awkwardly hugged his friend. I watched in shock as my son transformed from an angry young boy into the kid that he was before everything had happened. After scoffing down a piece of cake the two boys ran off to play. Jimmy pulled out Eli's wrestling toys wanting to play the boys favorite game, but Eli immediately ripped their heads off throwing them across the room. Jimmy didn't know how to respond to his friend's outburst.

Once Eli had calmed down the two boys played with Eli's birthday presents. There was nothing better than watching my son play like the little boy he was. After Jimmy left, my son reverted back to the scowling little boy he'd been since we'd gotten him back.

They found Conner's accomplice, her name was Leah and at trial the two of them were found guilty. They both got jail time, nowhere near long enough though. In 15 years Conner would be back on the streets able to torture more people. My son would only be 20 by the time that bastard got out of jail. He'll barely be a man, able to defend himself if that bastard chose to attack again. I think that helped me make the decision when Uncle Vince called. Uncle Vince wanted me to come back to work, he said that having Eli around the guys might help and they had a really good psychiatrist backstage.

I wasn't going to give in to Uncle Vince easily; there were many phone calls between the McMahons and myself. John, Randy and the Brothers of Destruction also tried to convince me to return to work. I knew that Dave was behind trying to get me to come back and while I wasn't impressed that it was him, I had to look at what would be best for Eli. Everyone had some really good points about how beneficial my returning to work could be. Finally I gave in, but I wasn't going to go back without doing one thing first.

I wanted to go and see Conner; I wanted him to know that this wasn't the end. He might think he was safe in prison, but it is amazing what people do to pedophiles and kidnappers. When I arrived at the prison I was directed through security and into a room that was split in half. Right down the middle of the room was glass panels. On either side of the glass panels were phones, benches and seats. I was directed to a bench in the middle of the room and waited for a couple of minutes before a door on the other side of the room open and a guard bought in Conner.

The moment he saw me Conner's face broke out in a smirk.

"Hey darling," He cooed into the phone and I wanted to throw up, "Nice to see you decided to come and visit. Just like that ex-fiancé of yours,"

"What?"

"He didn't tell you? Oh of course not, he was heartbroken and angry. Davie came and visited me right before he went back to work." I was surprised that Dave had visited Conner,

"What did he want?" I asked.

"Probably the same thing you want, to complain about how I ruined your precious life," Conner laughed and shivers ran down the back of my neck, "I just told him how well you played him,"

"What?"

"Oh I just told him about that little game you played… How you manipulated him and used him, just the way you used me."

"I did no such thing," I hissed,

"Maybe, but he is very easy to manipulate. Just like that little boy of yours. I wrapped Dave around my finger, I said jump and he jumped. Using his little girls, threatening to hurt them if he didn't say what I wanted," I was in shock, Conner really did manipulate Dave?

"What?" I asked getting angry,

"It was so easy, I knew that I wouldn't be able to get you to say what I wanted, but if I threatened his kids Dave would be putty in my hands. And your little boy would believe anything out of his hero's mouth, he just wouldn't shut up about that man. I heard Dave's heart break as he muttered those words, of course I recorded it so that I could play it back any time I needed".

"You asshole," the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Conner just laughed,

"You are too easy, I knew once you heard Dave say that he didn't love your son you'd lose it. Now, did you come just to pay a visit or did you have something to say,"

I felt like Conner had hit me, he'd manipulated everyone. Dave was only doing what he could to protect his girls and to protect Eli the best way that he could. I just wanted to hurt the man, but the more important thing was regaining my confidence so I could express myself.

"I wanted to make sure you knew that you're not getting off easy. When you finally get out of here I will make sure that EVERYONE knows who you are. Every time you try and get a job I'll be there before you, telling them what you did. You'll have no work, no friends and no family, you'll be all alone, and it'll be your fault,"

"Ooh tough words,"

"If you ever try to come near my family again I will rip you limb from limb,"

"Honey, I'm not afraid of you,"

"No threats!" I heard a guard behind me bark. I ignored him; I was completely focused on the man, who'd ruined my life,

"You should be! I have friends in high places; I can make sure you never leave this place. Do you know what they do to PAEDOPHILES and KIDNAPPERS?" I said those final words in a loud voice making sure that everyone heard. Conner's eyes went wide and I knew he was in trouble,

"You bitch! They're going to kill me,"

"GOOD! I HOPE YOU DIE! ROT IN HELL YOU BASTARD YOU TOOK MY SON FROM ME! DEATH IS TOO GOOD FOR YOU!"

"That's it you're out of here, you cannot speak to the prisoners that way," I heard the guard behind me bark as he grabbed me by the arm and directed me out of the room, "even if he deserves it".

I drove back to my place fuming the entire way, but I about half way home something Conner had said finally sunk in. Conner had bragged about manipulating Dave. Here I was blaming Dave for everything, blaming Dave for telling Eli that we didn't love him. I hadn't listened to Dave's claims that Conner had manipulated him, that he didn't have a choice. I had destroyed the best relationship I'd ever had because I was convinced that the real monster was Dave. In reality all Dave had ever done was support me, love me and bring me back my son. I didn't know what to do.

I could apologize; I knew that I had to do that. But, what was an apology after everything I'd done. As I pulled into Alex's place, where Eli was, I realized the most shocking thing.

"I want Dave in my life," I said to Alex, afraid to say it to myself.

"It took you long enough to realize," John said walking in the room,

"You're still here?" I sighed, simply frustrated by the interference.

"Yes ma'am I told Dave I'd keep an eye on you, so here I am. Besides there are definitely some benefits," John winked at his girlfriend. The man may drive me insane, but he was much better than Alex's last boyfriend, the bastard who helped Conner take my son.

"Eli, your mom is here time to get your stuff and go home," John called walking off, I heard my son calling from the distance,

"I don't wanna go home!" Hearing my son's words, I sighed exhausted from the whole day.

"Let him play a little longer, we'll have coffee," Alex called up the stairs.

"So, you want Dave back?" Alex asked,

"Yeah, Conner opened my eyes about a couple of things," I sighed,

"Why do you always listen to him and always doubt Dave? Conner is the bad guy; Dave is the good guy you need to get that in the right order!" Alex pushed handing me a cup of coffee.

"I know, I just, I don't know what it is about Conner his words always get me,"

"Well, it looks like he may have actually said something of worth this time. What did he say?"

"He told me that he'd manipulated Dave into saying those things," I muttered feeling ashamed,

"Everyone, but you could see that. Try listening to Dave for a change,"

"What do I do?"

"Get him back," Alex shrugged, "And let Eli stay here tonight, you should stay too. You need a girl's night,"

"Despite our doubts, John isn't actually a girl,"

"He can stay in a hotel, he'll live. Eli is happy right now, he's happy with Jimmy. We'll put them to bed early then crack out the Kahlua, the Tequila, the chocolate and we'll figure out how to get your man back," Alex smiled. The sound of a girl's night sounded appealing, we hadn't done anything of the like since before Eli got kidnapped.

It was nice to have a chance to relax. At bed time the boys were disappointed to go to bed but were soon out cold, Eli slept soundly with a smile on his face. He'd even said goodnight to me, things were finally starting to look good. We didn't accomplish much in regards to figuring out how to get Dave back, but we certainly made a dent in Alex's bar.

Somewhere around 2 or 3 am when I'd definitely had way too much to drink I made the brilliant decision to call Dave. Seriously, I think that if I'm around alcohol I should have my cell phone locked in a vault that I cannot access. At the time I vaguely remembered that Dave was home that week, his head had been introduced to someone's knee during a match and he'd gotten a concussion and a migraine. The last thing the man needed was a phone call at 2 am. However, it wasn't until after his phone started ringing that this fact sunk into my brain. He picked up and I hung up, losing my nerve and realizing that he didn't want a call from me.

Dave called me back the next day, I didn't answer. He didn't call again, though I knew that he'd spoken to John and he'd explained what had happened.

I went back to work and soon found it difficult to keep Eli with me, especially since I was needed ringside. Eli spent a lot of time with the backstage Psychiatrist, she was very helpful and Eli was slowly starting to respond to me more. However, the one thing that really helped was the time that he spent with Mark and Glen. They said that he spoke to them a lot and was able to relax, however whenever Dave came in the room he closed up and became angry.

I tried apologizing to Dave, I don't know how many phone calls I made only to chicken out and hang up on him. I started a thousand letters, but none of them were right. I just couldn't find the words to say that I was sorry; I loved him and wanted him back. I knew I didn't have any right asking, he'd had as many trust issues as I did. Yet he trusted me completely and I'd totally destroyed him.

In the end there was only one word that I could find to sum up the way I was feeling. After trying to say it on the phone I finally wrote it down on a piece of paper and stuck it in his locker. I made sure his locker room was empty, he now shared with Randy, Mark and Glen, Rey and occasionally some other wrestlers. Then I snuck in, he had a match at the time, I was doing everything I could to avoid him, and I stuck it in his locker. He'd know it was from me, or at least I hoped he did.

He called later that night, I avoided him. I may have finally written a note to him, but it didn't mean I was ready to talk. There was no way I could find the right words.

**A/N: Dave's injury in this chapter is based on a true story. Not with him, but me. Unfortunately it didn't happen in a wrestling match, instead it was classroom. I was bored in my theater class and attempted to *head desk* the thing was theater class is held in our theater and we have no desks. In my brilliance I decided to *head desk* on my friends knee. Unfortunately instead of pretending to head butt her knee I actually did. 2 days later I found myself spending 5 hours in urgent care getting CT Scans (which came back normal – YAY) and having I.V solutions (A sweet concoction of saline and three or four different pain killers). The official diagnosis was "a migraine caused by a concussion". For up to 3 weeks, I was in agony and couldn't think correctly. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Dave's POV**

Concussions are hell, I haven't had many but this latest one nearly killed me. What happened was a total fluke, a simple slip and my head hit Rey's knee. A normal head butt wouldn't have mattered as much, except I managed to hit exactly on my eye socket. I felt like my brain had left my body, I think I would rather any other injury –with other injuries I could still think, read or watch T.V. I got the week off work, but I couldn't even enjoy the time with my girls. I spent most of the week in my bedroom with the lights and T.V. off.

The most exciting thing that happened all week was a phone call at 2 or 3 am, two days after my injury. I'd only just fallen asleep; the pain was killing me so much that I'd even taken Tylenol. I'd already spent time at the doctors getting I.V. solutions. I was finally asleep and my phone rang, I don't know why it wasn't on silent, the noise was piercing. I wanted to scream, but it would only hurt my head more. I answered it and the ringer hung up, it was the first call from Jamie.

I got plenty more phone calls from Jamie, all hang ups. I occasionally saw her when she came by to pick up Eli, who was rather vicious around me. My heart broke every time I saw Jamie or her son; it was like whenever I saw them a video would play in my mind reminding me of everything that I had lost. I wasn't sleeping much, they say that time heals all wounds but I didn't see that happening. When I lost Jamie and Eli it felt like I'd lost part of my soul, a part that I would never get back.

One night I was late back to the locker room, I'd been receiving nearly nightly hang ups from Jamie, but that was the most. I'd walked into the locker room desperate for a shower. I didn't even look around as I headed straight for the showers. Half an hour later I walked back into the locker room with my towel around my waist and sat down, it was then that I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of my locker.

I stood up and grabbed the piece of paper, I wasn't too phased, and every now and then I found a note from a fan. That's what I was expecting, just a note from a fan professing their love for me. I was looking forward to the ego boost; it was definitely something I needed. I opened the piece ready to read about how much of a Greek Adonis this mystery girl thought I was. I was surprised when I realized there was only one word on the paper, "Sorry". I immediately knew the note was from Jamie and my heart beat a million times faster.

I didn't know how to respond, this note could mean so many things, and I had to talk to her. Sitting on the bench in the locker room, towel around my waist I found my phone and called Jamie's number. My heart beat faster and faster as I listened to the phone ring. I was disappointed when it rang out and went to voice mail. I left a message, but knew it was futile, she wasn't going to call me back.

The next month or two was filled with phone calls with no one on the other end of the line. I knew Jamie wanted something that something was going on. She wouldn't be putting herself through this if there wasn't. So I decided to speak to Vince. I was going to get him to help me get Jamie into a situation where she had to talk to me.

"Vince, I want a photo shoot," I said storming into his office one night,

"Well good evening to you too,"

"Vince, I want a photo shoot," I repeated,

"You hate photo shoots, besides you know that I'm not the one to talk to about those,"

"I know, but she won't talk to me,"

"Give her time Dave," Vince sighed,

"She keeps calling me and every time I answer she hangs up. I know she wants to talk to me,"

"What's a photo shoot going to do to change that?" Vince asked sadly, "she doesn't do photo shoots anymore,"

"But, you can override that. If you tell her that I have to have a photo shoot and that I'm demanding that she does it then she has no choice,"

"Dave, I don't want to put her in that situation, things still aren't great with Eli and she's really stressed,"

"Because she's got something she needs to get off her chest. Vince the other day there was a note in my locker, all it said was 'sorry'. Something has changed, she went to see Conner and something changed,"

"Would I be doing this for you or for her?" Vince asked looking down at his paperwork,

"Both," I replied sitting down in the chair across from his desk, "Vince, please do this it won't be a mistake, I promise you. It's killing me not knowing what's going on,"

"Alright," Vince finally sighed, "But if you come barging into my office again, you're going to be suspended,"

"I understand, sorry," I shrugged,

"I just emailed her; your photo shoot is next week," Vince said,

"Thank you sir,"

"Now get out of here before she comes in, then she's definitely going to know it was all of your doing," Vince scowled, I thanked him and left.

Heading back to my locker room I saw Jamie, with a face of thunder, heading towards Vince's office. I turned before we could get close enough and I don't think she saw me. I knew things would go badly if she saw me while angry. That night in my room there were no prank calls, however at 4:30am my hotel phone rang with a, "wakeup call". I knew that it was from Jamie, but I deserved it. I should consider myself lucky that the worst she did was organize a wakeup call at 4:30.

I soon learnt that there was more than just the wakeup call. I did not receive one phone call from Jamie all week. Around Thursday I realized that I would much rather have a million prank calls a day than a silent phone. I found myself looking at my phone, begging it to ring, but it stayed silent.

By the time Tuesday finally came back around I was desperate to hear from Jamie, but knew that I would see her that night. I was eager for the photo shoot I had with Jamie and just hoped that she would actually talk to me. I was at the photo office 10 minutes early, but Jamie was nowhere to be seen. The guy that had filled in while Jamie was gone explained to me she was ringside taking photos. While I paced the hallway outside the office I realized that I wasn't surprised that she was ringside. Jamie was the head of photography, but she liked being ringside. When she was ringside she forgot her worries and got caught up in the action and the adrenaline of the fight.

When Jamie finally came back to the office there was a bounce in her step and a slight smile on her face, I was used to seeing that look from when we first started dating. Her face changed when she saw me, but something was different, something more than just being ringside. Jamie walked straight past me into the office and I followed, I knew we wouldn't stay there, but I felt the need to keep an eye on the woman. She grabbed her cameras and basic equipment before heading for the door again. She still hadn't said a word to me, nor did she as we headed for an abandoned part of the arena. I'd emailed during the week suggesting to Vince that the photo shoot should be in an excluded part of the arena, I figured it would give me more of a chance to get Jamie to talk.

"I thought you'd leave me alone," Jamie finally muttered as she set up the tripod,

"You're the one who keeps calling," I explained, Jamie looked up confused and I rolled my eyes, "Caller ID, it's an amazing thing. You seem to have the desire to talk to me, but you're afraid or something, I was just providing the opportunity for you to talk,"

"Why do I need to talk to you?"

"You keep calling, then every time I answer the phone you hang up. I know you saw Conner,"

"John," Jamie hissed,

"John, Vince, Alex, Randy, your mom, Shane, heck I think even Conner called to tell me," I responded trying to make light of the situation. I didn't blame Jamie for being annoyed at John sharing information; everything with Eli had started because some asshole shared information.

"Well, this isn't the appropriate place to talk about things," Jamie took a deep breath, "Can we discuss it over dinner tonight?"

"Umm no I have a…"

"Date," Jamie cut me off dejected. I mentally rolled my eyes.

"Yes, with a beautiful young woman. She is younger than you, a lot younger, beautiful long dark hair," I started to taunt Jamie slightly, "and do you want to know my favorite part of the evening? After dinner when we're cuddled up on my bed watching a movie and she starts drifting off after muttering, 'I love you daddy, thank you for tonight,'" I finished revealing that my date was my daughter.

"Mel's here?" Jamie asked embarrassed.

"How did you know it was Mel?"

"Rachel is a blonde and not that much younger than me and Hailey never calls you daddy, it's always Dada. How come Mel is here?"

"She got some good grades and as her reward she wanted to come with me. She goes home tomorrow though so why don't we have dinner then; after all we do have the whole week here," I explained.

"Tomorrow then, after the house show,"

"After the house show tomorrow," I replied, Jamie picked up her equipment and walked off. Not a single photo had been taken, but it didn't really matter as long as Vince wasn't actually expectingany.

My match went off without a hitch and as soon as it was finished I showered and found Mel, she had spent the evening with the Divas; she was definitely getting too old to be in the men's locker rooms. Mel decided dinner, well late supper, would be room service followed by amazing desert. I even splurged and ordered an On Demand movie.

"Why can't I stay here longer?" Mel asked cuddling against me,

"Because you have to go back to school and keep your grades up and I have an important meeting tomorrow night," I explained skirting around the truth slightly.

"Dinner with Jamie, right?" My smart daughter asked, I was surprised that she knew.

"How did you know?"

"Dad, the Diva's know EVERYTHING," Mel laughed, "are you going to take her back?"

"I don't know if she wants me back,"

"Do you still love her?"

"The only people I love more, are you girls," I muttered, "now go to sleep sweetie, it's late," I whispered holding Mel close.

Mel's breathing began to slow and even out and I realized she'd fallen asleep. I knew that it wasn't that good for my teenage daughters to share a bed with their father, but that's what Mel wanted. She wanted to be close to me, she never did it when we were home so I guessed it was okay.

I watched Mel sleep for a while before closing my eyes and attempting to catch some sleep myself. I tossed and turned most of the night and accidently woke up Mel who I sent to the rollout bed. If I had tossed and turned on that small bed I would have fallen off, besides those beds had been too short for me since I was younger than Mel.

Mel wasn't happy to say goodbye the next morning, but she knew the trip was only 24 hours. They were only mid-term grades after all. Hailey and Rachel had gotten good grades as well. Hailey had chosen show tickets, she wanted to see some show at the theatre, and I was taking her the next weekend that I was home. Rachel had chosen a small shopping spree; she was always obsessed with needing new clothes for college.

The reward system worked fantastic. Jamie suggested the idea not long after the girls moved in with me. Their grades were dropping; they had figured that I wasn't going to care about how well they did in school. They were definitely wrong. Jamie and I had sat down together trying to figure out how to get the girls to improve their grades. Jamie came up with the reward system, they got $10 each A, unless it was a class they really struggled with, like Science then it was $10 for a B and $20 for an A. If they got all good grades they got a choice of rewards based on the level of 'importance' the grades. For example, they got bigger rewards for end of year grades than just semester or mid-term grades. They also had the option to save their rewards and build up for something bigger. Mel usually saved her, but randomly she decided she wanted to spend 24 hours with me. The girls sometimes struggled with things, their mom was on the other side of the world and I was hardly ever home, especially since the stuff with Eli.

That night I had a mid-card match for the house show. I was wrestling some no-name, a local that was sloppy and weak. He had no in-ring presence either, if he ever wanted to wrestle for the WWE he'd definitely have to improve. After my match I showered and got changed. I was nervous and wanted to make a good impression. I dressed in a long sleeve black button down shirt, a pair of black jeans and black loafers. I looked in the mirror and was impressed; I definitely looked good wearing Jamie's favorite style of clothing. The other boys in the locker room started to rag on me getting all 'doled up'. I had totally forgotten about Eli until Mark walked in with the boy on his shoulders. It seemed like something had changed with Eli.

"You're looking mighty dressed up Dave," Mark said looking me up and down. Eli looked down at me from his perch on Mark's shoulders.

"He's having dinner with my mommy," Eli muttered. It was the first near positive thing he'd said to or about me since coming home; usually he just hissed nasty comments my way.

"Yep, that's why I'm taking you back to the hotel," Mark responded effortlessly lifting the boy off his shoulders,

"When are we leaving?" Eli asked keeping a wary eye on me, something had definitely changed, "because I'm hungry and mommy said I could have room service,"

"We will leave once you pack up all your stuff and we say goodbye to your mommy," Mark smiled getting down at Eli's level and helping the boy pack up his stuff. I couldn't help but smile at Eli; he was nearly the same boy that he was before everything happened.

Suddenly Eli stopped packing up and looked down playing restlessly with a toy,

"What's wrong?" Mark asked quickly picking up the boy's change in attitude,

"Mommy, will come back won't she?" Eli asked quietly,

"Of course she will," Mark said,

"Will she really? I don't want her to go out," Eli muttered,

"I promise you she will be back,"

"No one else will come?"

"No one, I'll be with you the whole time and I'll make sure that the only one allowed in the room is your mommy," Mark cooed pulling Eli onto his lap.

"Eli, I promise you that your mommy will come back. I'll make sure of it," I said kneeling down in front of the boy. Eli was nearly in tears, and Mark and I spent the next couple of minutes trying to calm him down.


	13. Chapter 13

**Jamie's POV**

Life was rough; I had a son who blamed me for being separated from his father, a mother constantly trying to tell me that I should forgive her – after all Eli was home, I was struggling at work and then I got an email from Vince telling me I had to do a photo shoot with the one man who had me all torn up.

When I got the email I was fuming. Yes, I'd realized that Dave was the good guy and yes I wanted him back my life, but I wanted to do things on my terms. I knew Dave had convinced Vince of the photo shoot, as director of Photography I didn't do photo shoots anymore. Dave had to go over my head to get me to do a shoot.

I was given a week to prepare myself to face the man I'd screwed over and was expecting that week to be hell. But something happened, something that changed everything. It was Wednesday night, Eli and I had flown to Connecticut after the taping the night before. I had some meetings at WWE headquarters and was going to take the opportunity to spend some time with the McMahons. Uncle Vince had put us up in a hotel because both Shane and Stephanie's family was staying at the McMahon's.

When my meetings were over Eli and I had dinner with the ever growing McMahon family. After dinner and much to the disgust of his wife Shane drove Eli and I back to our hotel. Eli was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Playing with his 'cousins' had definitely worn him out. I watched him sleep for a little bit and felt my heart warm at the smile on my son's face. We would definitely spend some time with McMahon's before heading back to Minnesota, anything to capture that smile for a little bit longer.

I drifted off to sleep around 1am only to be woken an hour later by a loud banging. I sat up, turned on the light and saw a sight that petrified me, my 5 year old son hitting his head against the wall.

"Eli!" I gasped in shock. I jumped up and grabbed my son trying to stop what he was doing. Eli struggled against my grasp and I realized he was muttering to himself,

"Bad, bad boy… Naughty boy, bad boy".

Holding Eli I realized that he was soaking wet, I looked down at his bed and realized that he'd had an accident. Eli hadn't had an accident since he'd come home, but before he was kidnapped he wet the bed at least once a week. I didn't mind, he was just a little boy and I knew he'd grow out of it. Every parent had to change sheets once in a while and the bigger deal you made about it the worse it would be. This was the first time he'd had an accident since he'd gotten home.

"Shh… It's okay," I whispered trying to hold my son close,

"No, no… Bad, bad boy, bad boy," Eli thrashed.

"You're not a bad boy, who said that?" I asked, holding Eli's arms down more concerned about protecting him than myself. He didn't say anything for a few moments before finally looking up at me and bursting into tears,

"Who said you're a bad boy?" I asked again,

"Daddy," Eli finally sobbed quietly, "he said that I was a bad boy and bad boys had to be punished,"

"What made you a bad boy?" I asked noticing the weakness in my son,

"Wetting my bed, crying, wanting you and Dave… Daddy said that those things made me a bad boy and that he had me because you and Dave didn't want me anymore, that you thought I was a bad boy too".

Listening to my son broke my heart; he'd been manipulated by the man who was meant to be his father. Manipulated by someone who was meant to love him and had his self-confidence destroyed as well as his faith in the ones who really did love him.

"We always wanted you," I whispered not really knowing the words to say,

"I told him that, I did, but he said you didn't. He said if you loved me then you would have picked me up from day care and you would come get me. You never came and then Dave said he didn't love me, you never came!" Eli cried angrily.

"We didn't know where to find you. Every day I looked for you and when we found out you were in Colorado we were on the first flight, but we didn't find you. We weren't going to give up. If we didn't want you Dave wouldn't have gotten you back," I explained carrying my son into the bathroom. Eli was near hysterics, sweating, and smelling. When he was a baby and I couldn't calm him down I'd put him in the bath, it was an instant sedative. So I carried him into the bathroom and began to fill the tub.

As I stripped him off I noticed the scars on his arm, he'd needed surgery to repair a break,

"You said your daddy said bad boys had to be punished," I asked carefully, "is that how your arm got broken," Eli nodded slightly,

"I tried to be good, I did, I kept saying 'daddy I have to go to the bathroom', but he wouldn't let me. He said we had to keep driving; we couldn't stop all the time. I kept trying to get him to let me go, but he wouldn't. Then… then… It was too late. I tried to hold on, but I couldn't. Daddy got mad at me… He said I was bad… He said I had to be punished," my son sobbed heavily.

"What did I do?" I asked quietly, nervous at what the answer was going to be.

"No… No… he said I couldn't tell… I don't want to," Eli cried.

The bath was at a good level so I turned off the tap and lifted my young son into it. He sat there for a few moments crying heavily. Slowly he began to calm down and after a few minutes he was only sobbing quietly.

"Why didn't you come?" Eli asked looking down at the water,

"We did… We looked everywhere for you and then Dave disobeyed everything the detectives said and got you back," I responded rubbing soap over his back,

"You didn't want me,"

"Yes I did. I have always wanted you and will always fight for you. You are my little boy and I love you more than life itself," I responded with tears in my eyes, "and you're not a bad boy,"

"But, daddy said…"

"Do you remember what I always said, about when you love someone?"

"That you don't hurt the people you love,"

"And what does that say about your daddy?"

"That if he loved me he wouldn't have hurt me. He doesn't love me does he?" Eli asked defeated and it broke my heart,

"No honey he doesn't. He wanted to hurt me and knew that the only way to do that was by hurting you,"

"No one loves me…"

"I love you,"

"Says who? Daddy said you didn't love me now you say he doesn't love me,"

"Have I ever hurt you?"

"No," Eli muttered.

This conversation was exhausting, but I was so glad we were having it, even if it was happening at 3 in the morning. Eli had stopped crying, but he was completely silent sitting in the bath staring at the water. I knew it was a lot for a 5 year old to process and he was trying to figure things out. It had to be heart breaking and confusing for him. Eli yawned and I noticed his eyes were starting to droop. I picked him up and lifted him out of the bath wrapping a towel around him.

Once he was dry I found some clothes for him to wear and a pull-up, he hadn't needed them in a while, but I figured it's better to be safe than sorry. Once he was dressed I lay him down on the king bed and went into the bathroom to let the water out. By the time I returned Eli had found a Bible and was holding it up to me,

"Will you read it to me?" He asked,

"Only a small passage, it's very late," I responded not able to turn down my son. I climbed on the bed we would be sharing for the rest of the night. Eli curled up in my lap and I knew I finally had my son home again. I began reading and he was asleep before I got half way through the passage.

I barely slept a wink the rest of the night, instead I watched Eli. He tossed and turned occasionally calling out in panic, but he didn't wake. We had a long way to go, but I knew things were finally on the road back to normal.

Eli was just waking up when Vince showed up to drive us to the McMahon's. I was hoping Shane would come, but Marissa was paranoid about the relationship we had. Yes, we'd had a short thing a million years ago, but we quickly realized that being with each other was like being with a sibling. I loved Shane like a brother, nothing more, and nothing less.

"You look exhausted," Uncle Vince said picking up a bag and Eli's booster seat.

"It was a big night, I'll explain at your place," I sighed giving him a hug. I was exhausted, but was happier than I had been in a long time and completely torn, it was a very conflicting morning.

We arrived at the McMahon's just as breakfast was being served. After eating the kids ran off to play while the adults drank coffee.

"You look exhausted," Shane commented glancing across the table at me,

"Long night," I muttered.

"You told me you'd explain," Vince said. So, I sat there and explained what had happened in the early hours of that morning. I felt Linda wrap her arm around my shoulders and when I finished I felt completely deflated.

"Why don't you go upstairs and have a rest," Linda suggested, "Shane, take her up to your room".

I heard Marissa growl at the idea, but Shane just rolled his eyes and directed me upstairs,

"What about Eli?"

"He's happily playing with the other kids, he won't notice if you're missing for an hour or so,"

"And if he does?"  
"I'll bring him right up," Shane said opening his bedroom door. Once he'd left home Linda had wasted no time in re-decorating; now it was a nice guest room or the perfect room for when Shane and his family stayed.

Shane sat down on the bed with me,

"Are you doing alright?" He asked wrapping an arm around me,

"I got a glimpse of my little boy last night and that made things a little easier. I need to rebuild a few relationships; I never thought my life would end up like this," I responded yawning.

"Sometimes life throws you curve balls," Shane shrugged not really knowing what to say.

I don't remember Shane leaving. I was so tired that I must have fallen asleep while Shane was still there. I don't know how long I'd been asleep when I heard the door open,

"Mommy!" My son cried running to the bed,

"Hey," I muttered sleepily,

"You disappeared,"

"I just came up to have a little sleep while you were happily playing," I explained and my son let out a huge yawn, "do you want to have a lie down with me?"

We slept until Stephanie knocked on the door telling us lunch was ready and we needed to eat before heading to the airport.

The rest of the week went well. Eli was clingy, but happy to play with Jimmy. I spent most days with Alex, with Eli eager to play with his best friend when he came home from school. Eli was old enough for school, he should have been in Kindergarten, but the kidnapping had put things back a bit. The sad thing was that with Jimmy's birthday being in November and Eli's in June the two boys should have been in the same grade. However, Glen was happy to use his teaching qualifications to give Eli a bit of "home schooling" back stage, so hopefully he'd be able to start the 1st grade the next year.

John had gone back to work a couple of weeks before hand, but he had the rest of the week off and was hanging out at Alex's house. He basically lived there, but he was good for her and Jimmy,

"You know its Dave's birthday next week," John said over coffee one morning while Alex drove Jimmy to Kindergarten.

"I am well aware of that fact,"

"Are you doing anything for him?"

"I don't know ," I had spent a lot of time thinking about Dave's birthday. I had a card for him, but I wasn't game to buy him anything until things were better. I didn't want him to think I was trying to buy him back.

"So, what's with you an Alex? You basically live here, when are you going to pop the question?" I asked changing the topic.

"I don't know, one day soon I hope," John smiled and a moment later my best friend walked in.

On Tuesday night I was anxious, I was going to be in a situation where I had to communicate with the man and I knew that he was up to something. In the back of the arena I learnt just what Dave wanted. He was sick of my hang up calls, he wanted some answers. Secretly I was glad that it finally came to this and was happy to talk to him that night, but I learnt he had a date. I was furious, he had moved on so quickly, until I realized that his 'date' was with his youngest daughter.

I had 24 hours to freak out about the pending dinner with Dave. I rehearsed what I was going to say about a million times, but I couldn't rehearse his responses and I definitely couldn't prepare myself for whatever he had to say.

The next night Mark and Dave bought Eli to the photography office to say goodbye and goodnight. After Mark and Eli left Dave turned to me,

"I spent some time with Eli tonight; he definitely seemed like a different kid, nearly like himself,"

"Yeah, I found my little boy this week," I smiled

"Are you ready for dinner?"

"As I'll ever be," I responded before following Dave out to the parking lot.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I've been re-reading things with this story and want to clear up some things for everyone's sake… The story starts in Mid-Jan, Conner takes Eli beginning of April and they get him back at the beginning of May. Dave is turning 39, there was a typo in an earlier chapter that says he's already 39, but he was really only 38 (I am not good with math). **

**Dave's POV**

After calming Eli down Mark and I took him to the photography office. He needed to say goodbye to his mother and it was a good chance for me to meet up with Jamie. I'd been doing a lot of thinking since saying goodnight to my daughter the night before. There was no question whether or not I loved Jamie; I was going to love her until the day that I died. Mel had me questioning what I would do in the rare occurrence that Jamie actually wanted me back. By the time we made it to the photography office I still hadn't come up with an answer, but I figured I would be in the clear anyway. There was no way that Jamie would ever want me back, she made that clear, several times.

After Jamie said goodbye to her son we headed out to my car and I drove us to a local IHOP. Looking at the menu I once again wished that I could eat healthier while on the road, but then again I didn't usually eat that healthy while at home either. My daughter's were responsible for my bad dietary habits there as well as our house keeper's amazing cooking. I looked over my menu at the woman across from me; she'd barely said a word since saying goodbye to Eli. I could tell she was nervous and that made me nervous.

"Why are we here?" I asked after ordering an omelet.

"You said we needed to talk,"

"No, you're the one who said we needed to talk, just in fewer words. I just provided the opportunity for it,"

"I don't know what to say," Jamie muttered,

"Yeah you do. You've probably practiced it a million times," I smiled; I was only trying to make Jamie relax a little bit, "Jamie, you can say anything you need to, I'll listen."

Jamie looked across at the different syrups before turning to the sugar packets and beginning to organize the packets. I'd seen her do it a million times, every restaurant we visited, and it was more of an OCD thing than a nervous habit.

"I went and saw Conner," She finally muttered after the waiter delivered out food.

"I know, we mentioned this last night," I explained,

"Well… He explained a few things and I realized I was wrong. I'm really sorry," Jamie muttered playing around with her food,

"It's alright, I understand," My heart was beating a million times faster than usual. It really wasn't all right, she'd ripped my heart out and stomped all over it, but she was under extreme stress.

"It's not alright, I was really wrong. I miss you Dave, you're all I ever think about. I can't sleep and without you part of me is missing," Things started to haze over, I felt like I was about to have a heart attack, I couldn't believe what I was hearing Jamie say. She took my hand, her touch bought me back to a level of reality, "I love you Dave and I want to ask you for another chance, I should have never broken up with you," her words bought me back to earth with a thump.

The words that came out of my mouth shocked me as much as they shocked Jamie. Never in a million years did I expect to say what I said next,

"I can't,"

"What?"

"Jamie, I can't,"

"Don't you love me?"  
"Oh I love you, I love you more than life itself. But, I can't do this again. I haven't slept months; I can't think of anything other than you, my heart aches thinking about you. And you've managed to hurt me more than anyone else in my life. I can't put myself out there again, I can't make myself venerable to you again," I said with tears burning in my eyes,

"But Dave…"

"And on top of everything, you listened to the guy that manipulated you and kidnapped your son over the one guy that loves you. You broke up with me because of him and you want me back because of him. I will never stop loving you, but I can't do this. I have to move on, I have to start dating and I have to stop making you my life," I said,

"Take me to the hotel," Jamie said after an eternity of silence, I could see the tears in her eyes and tried to ignore the tears in my own.

I put some money on the table and followed Jamie out to the car, our food was left untouched. She didn't say a word during the ride to the hotel, but I heard her sniffing quietly. At the hotel she jumped out of the car pulling something out of her purse she threw it down on the front seat,

"Happy Birthday," she muttered before racing off. It was my birthday the next day. I was turning 39 and my life was completely falling apart and I'd chosen that path, I'd made the choice to turn and walk away from the only woman I ever loved.

I left the envelope on the passenger seat and headed up to my room. I got there and after closing the door I collapsed against it in tears. Ten minutes later I was still sobbing heavily, it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my body. As my sobs were slowing down my phone began to ring,

"Dave speaking," I muttered taking a deep breath, I guessed who it could possibly be,

"What the hell were you thinking?" John asked,

"It's complicated,"

"Alex is on the phone with me and Jamie who is apparently in tears because you turned her down, don't you love her?"

"Of course I do," I sighed trying not to let the sobs take over again,

"Then what the hell is going on?" John asked angrily. I sighed before responding, it was complicated,

"Do you love Alex?"

"Of course,"

"Do you want to marry her? Spend the rest of your life with her?"

"Yes,"

"And she's the only person to ever make you feel this way isn't she?"

"Yeah… What are you getting at?"

"Imagine if Fullington returned and he threatened to hurt your family if you didn't say some really mean things. So you say them, but Alex doesn't hear Fullington threaten you, she just hears you say them. When she hears you say them she thinks you're evil, a monster and so she dumps you, breaking your heart. Then Fullington confesses that he manipulated you and she realizes she was wrong and comes begging for you to take her back,"

"What are you getting at?" John asked, confusion in his voice,

"She listened to him!" I explained angry and hurting, "Always to him, he threatened my girls and he threatened Eli and I had no choice to tell Eli that I didn't love him and she listened to him. Then when he was gloating about how we played into his hand she listened again. She listens to him all the time,"

"I'm sorry," John said not really knowing what to say,

"I'm the good guy John, the good guy, always there, always trying to prove myself. He's the bad guy, not me, he's the one who stole her son and lied and cheated… I'm the good guy, so why am I always getting treated like the bad guy?" John was quiet for a moment before I heard him in the distance,

"Lexi, I'm going to have to side with Dave on this one," his next words were louder and I knew he was talking to me, "Dave, are you okay?"

"Miserable and pathetic and reminded that tomorrow I get one step closer to 40," I complained deciding to throw the age factor in for more sympathy,

"Do you want some company?"

"I have some… My friends Jack and Johnny," I replied being hit with the overwhelming desire to drink myself into oblivion.

"I'll be there in 10 minutes,"

"Why?" I asked barely remembering that Raw was travelling with Smackdown for a week of promotional Super Shows.

"So you won't be drinking alone,"

"I won't be – I'll have Jack and Johnny," I responded,

"What's your room number?"

"316," I sighed. If I drank by myself I'd probably end up doing something stupid, like finding my way to Jamie's room and telling her I made a mistake. Either that or manage to choke to death on my own vomit, though as I thought about it I wasn't sure what would be worse.

I got off the phone with John and went to the bathroom to clean up, we wouldn't drink in the room, the mini-bar was a waste of money and you definitely couldn't drink enough to reach the state I was aiming for. By the time I was ready, John was knocking on my door, I let him in and saw that he was still on the phone,

"Lex I know… I know… And Dave's one of mine… I understand where he's coming from. Look Lex I've got to go… I love you… Yes, I do… Goodnight Lex," John finished up rolling his eyes as he ended the call, "Sorry,"

"You ready to go?" I asked shrugging. I hoped that my love life wasn't going to screw up John's love life, he was finally happy.

At the hotel bar John ordered two beers and some Spicy Buffalo Wings, I'd turned down ordering food, but as soon as they arrived I couldn't help but getting stuck in. They were the only thing I'd eaten all day, so it didn't take long for the drinks to start to have an effect. The last thing I remember from the night was someone bringing another plate of Wings.

The next thing I knew I was being woken up by a loud, shrill noise. It took me a moment to realize that it was my cell phone; I absently fished around and found it on the bedside table,

"Uh… Hello?" I muttered attempting to ignore the throbbing in my head,

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" My three girls screamed down the phone. I pulled it away from my ear shrinking away from the noise,

"Thanks," I muttered after the noise seemed to stop echoing in my brain,

"Are you okay?" Mel asked,

"Yeah, you just uh… woke me up…" I replied trying to sound chipper.

"I told you we would," Mel told her sisters,

"We just wanted to make sure we were the first to wish you a happy birthday," Rachel said. I thanked my girls again before muttering an excuse and hanging up.

"Aspirin and water on the bedside table," John muttered as soon as I ended the call. I swallowed the two tablets before gulping down the bottle of water,

"Uhhh," I groaned dropping back on the bed,

"You know, they've recently proven that the best and fastest hang over cure is exercise," John said sitting up, he had slept on the couch,

"Exercise? In this condition?"

"It's the best and fastest cure and you have a match tonight,"

"Uhh don't remind me," I muttered pulling my pillow over my head. I was nearly asleep when John threw something at me,

"Come on, exercise," He encouraged.

Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and got changed. John pushed me out the door and we headed towards the hotel gym. We headed down in the elevator, but it stopped before getting to our floor. I couldn't believe who got in and despite my throbbing head I was tempted to smash it against the elevator wall.

"What's wrong with you?" Jamie asked after Eli raced in giving John a hug,

"He decided he wanted to try Mythbusters' hangover cures,"

"How they working?" Jamie raised an eyebrow,

"He hasn't started them yet, he had to get the hangover first," John was smirking, I couldn't believe it, but at that point I also didn't care. When the elevator finally reached the ground level I waited while John said goodbye to Eli and Jamie before being dragged to the gym.

During our work out I wondered why on earth I was actually listening to John and exercising with a hang over the size of Texas, but I kept it up,

"My head is worse," I hissed as we left the gym an hour later,

"That's because you need to follow up with a big greasy breakfast," So I followed John to the restaurant and stupidly let him fill my plate up with eggs, bacon, sausage and anything else he could think of. After breakfast I made it back to the room before bringing up everything I'd just eaten. I usually didn't throw up after drinking, but John's advise of exercise and greasy food had backfired. After emptying my stomach I drank another bottle of water and slept for a few hours, by the time I was meant to be in the ring that night I felt marginally better. What a way to spend my birthday? Hung over and feeling like crap.

A few weeks later I learnt the truth about John's great hang over cure, having gotten tired of my drunken antics the night before he had decided to get some payback and worked out how he could torture me the most, he succeeded. I guess I wasn't as fun of a drunk as I remembered.

On Saturday I finally made it home and saw my family, they had presents for me and made me my favorite meal; it was a much better day than my actual birthday.

**A/N: Are you aware that between this story and The Animal and The Photographer there are 196 reviews… WOW! You guys are awesome! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Jamie's POV**

Sitting across the table from Dave I was confused and heartbroken. When I'd ended the relationship Dave said he loved me, just a couple of weeks ago John said Dave loved and wanted to be with me. So, I couldn't understand how Dave could look at me across the table and turn me down. When I asked for him for another chance he told me he loved me, so why was I alone? Why didn't he want me?

I knew I'd been wrong, I knew that I'd listened to Conner and let him convince me that Dave was the bad guy. He'd managed to blur my vision of the truth like he'd done a million times before and I easily fell back into that old habit. When I visited Conner in prison I'd learnt the truth and my eyes were opened. Since then I'd been doing a lot of thinking, I had seen the trap I'd fallen into.

Back at the hotel I called Alex, who else was I going to talk to? I called her and we managed to blame John for Dave's reaction. I knew Alex was just doing it to make me feel better and it worked a little. Alex got John on the phone for a male's perspective, after all John wanted me to speak to Dave. Somewhat predictably John got Dave on the phone. It was me and Alex, Alex and John, and John and Dave on the phones. I blamed modern technology and people's obsession with it, these days everyone had a land line as well as a cell phone.

"John's siding with Dave," Alex said confused. I'd heard something going on over the phone, and could only hear parts of Alex's side of the conversation.

"What?"

"He says he understands where Dave is coming from and says he's siding with him,"

"Dave doesn't trust me," I muttered.

While Alex was arguing with John I realized that it wasn't necessarily that Dave didn't trust me, though I doubted that he did, it was that he didn't think I trusted him. I didn't blame him; after all I hadn't exactly shown him anything that said I trusted him. I had turned on him instead of trusting his words and I believed someone else over him. No wonder he wanted nothing to do with me.

It wasn't long before Alex got off the phone with John and the two of us spent the next several hours analyzing why John was siding with Dave and deciding that Dave was actually the son of the devil. It was rather immature stuff, but sometimes life called for immaturity. During the time my stomach began to grumble and I remembered that we'd left IHOP without eating our meal. Absently I picked up the hotel phone and ordered room service. Alex tried to put her two cents in on what I should get, I ignored her.

After the food arrived I checked on Eli, sound asleep, the way he was when I got back to the hotel. He slept a lot more peacefully these days, he still didn't sleep all through most nights and tossed and turned plenty, but he slept a little heavier and a little sounder. These days I learnt to celebrate Eli's small victories, he was only gone a little over a month, but that month changed everything. It was amazing to see how quickly Conner was able to completely destroy my son, I guess he was at a key age to manipulate and destroy. To a little kid a day can feel like a lifetime, a month must feel like a million.

I played with my food while talking to Alex, I was running out of things to say, but she kept going on and on. I managed to eat a few forkfuls of my salad and it made me want to vomit. The food tasted like ash and sat heavy in my chest. I dropped the phone as it hit me like waves. The grief of losing the one man that I'd ever loved. The guilt at the realization it was my entire fault. While I was experiencing this pain, so bad that I could barely breathe, something else hit me.

I looked across the room at where my little boy was sleeping and was hit with a wave of grief of losing my son and anger at the man who'd taken him away from me. Yes, I was getting my little boy back, but that grief was still there. I'd been focusing so hard on finding my son, even after he was back in my arms, that I hadn't really let myself grieve everything that had been lost.

Vaguely, somewhere in the distance I heard my cell phone ring, I let it ring… It didn't matter. Nothing the ringer could say would change what had happened over the past year, they couldn't change that in less than a year my life had gone from the cloud 9 to the pits of hell. No, the person on the other end of the line couldn't change anything.

I must have fallen asleep a couple of hours before sunrise. It barely felt like I'd closed my eyes when I was woken again, the T.V was on and my phone was ringing. I ignored the phone and looked around. Eli had woken up and found the remote control, usually I hid it so that he didn't waste his time watching T.V. but today was I grateful. He didn't wake me up; instead he'd sat down and occupied himself for a while.

"Mom?" Eli said turning around, he must have heard me move,

"Yes?" It didn't matter that I felt like I'd been run over by a semi; I had a son to look after. I couldn't afford any more time to wallow in self pity. That was a luxury I gave up when I gave birth. So, instead of hiding back under the blankets I sat up waiting to hear what my son wanted,

"I'm hungry; can we have breakfast?" He asked showing signs that he was nervous to ask a question. Instead of hiding under the blankets I pushed them aside and stood up,

"Of course," I replied kissing my son on the forehead, "why don't you get dressed quickly and we can go downstairs," I explained looking at my cell phone.

It was 10:00am, no wonder Eli was hungry. I got changed quickly and we headed down stairs to see if the buffet was still open. We waited for the elevator to stop at our floor and when we got in Eli screamed, John was there. I watched as John and Eli hugged and smiled to myself slightly before I realized there was another presence in the elevator.

I looked over and saw Dave leaning against the elevator wall. He looked hopelessly pathetic,

"What's wrong with you?" I asked knowing full well that he was hung over. I'd seen that look plenty of times before.

"He decided he wanted to try Mythbusters' hangover cures," John explained smirking at the man, who clearly wanted to kill his friend,

"How they working?" I asked raising an eyebrow,

"He hasn't started them yet, he had to get the hangover first," John laughed and I couldn't help but join in.

Eli looked up at Dave and shrugged before turning to John and focusing his attention on him. I felt better being stuck in an elevator with Dave when he was in the condition he was in. When we stopped at the main floor Eli gave John another hug and I said goodbye to the man. I didn't really know where things stood with John, had he spoken to Alex and made things okay? Or was he still in the dog house? But, my son loved him and I wasn't going to pull him back.

When we reached the restaurant the buffet was thankfully still open. Being in a generous mood I allowed Eli to get whatever he wanted, within reason of course. I got a couple of pancakes, but only picked at them I still didn't have much appetite.

While Eli got stuck into his breakfast I called Alex,

"It's about time that you called me back," Alex growled obviously worried about me,

"Dave's hung over," I explained,

"What?"

"He got drunk last night," I smiled. I knew what this meant; I knew that Dave getting drunk was actually a positive thing for me. It meant he wasn't dealing with things as well as he wanted me to think he was.

I was confused though. Why would Dave turn me down and then go get drunk? Unless he was celebrating getting rid of me, celebrating the fact that I was gone from his life,

"It wasn't that," Alex said after I posed my new theory,

"What?" I asked,

"I spoke to John late last night when I couldn't get back in touch with you. Dave was well on the way to unconscious and getting rather pathetic; I could hear him in the background. He kept moaning about how he'd made a stupid mistake, that he loved you and turning you down had been the stupid mistake he'd ever made,"

"Then why did he do it?" I asked. I was now more confused than ever, I just couldn't understand this man.

"John asked him that same question at one point,"

"And his answer?"

"The same thing he told you… Loving you is too hard,"

"Hmm," I had run out of words.

It sucked to hear that someone loved you, but found it too hard to be with you. I didn't know how to respond and I didn't know how to feel. Instead I ended up saying goodbye to Alex and looked at my son,

"Do you want to go to the zoo today?" I asked, I didn't have to work until that night and thought I should spend some time with my son. Maybe try to remember what life was like before this whirl wind life happened. My son's eyes grew wide at my question, his mouth was full of food, but he nodded excitedly. I realized that one thing hadn't changed; my little boy still loved animals.

Eli had always had a passion for animals, even as an infant. At just a few weeks old I'd be feeding him in front of the television and when an animal came on screen he'd stop and just listen to the animal noises. As he was getting older he was starting to attempt to catch injured animals, not to hurt them more, but to try and nurse them back to health. Some of the guys and Divas back stage understood animals and would teach him about them. I always wondered if my little boy was destined to be a vet.

I couldn't help smile at the excitement my son was showing and wondered why I hadn't thought of the zoo before. I guess I'd been so caught up in getting him well again and trying to find a glimpse of his old self. On the suggestion of the zoo I didn't just see a glimpse of my boy again, I saw the whole thing, it was like he hadn't even been gone.

The zoo was fantastic; Eli ran ahead excitedly looking to and from the animals. He would find a particular animal and turn to me telling me everything he knew about it. I wondered where he found out all this information and was proud of him for it all. We ate at the restaurant and I let him get a toy from the gift shop. The only time I saw the "new" Eli was when I told him he could get a toy and he looked so hesitant and asked what he had to do to get it. It once again made me wonder what had happened when he was gone.

The day at the zoo seemed to be keep hold of the real Eli, for the next few days he kept talking about it to everyone who would listen. Glen told me that Eli was so focused on animals that he couldn't teach him anything else, all Eli wanted to know was more about different animals.

Things were finally starting to look good again. I had my son who was becoming more and more like his old self, especially when I took him to every zoo and animal sanctuary that I could. Each time Eli came home a little bit more like himself. Work was good and things were starting to be rebuilt in my family. The only thing that was missing from my life was Dave.

I soon learnt that Dave had moved on. According to Alex, who got her information from John, Dave had been sleeping with some random girls, but that hadn't been really satisfying. Now Dave was dating the diva Maria. When I got the news I felt like I'd been hit in the chest, but I should have been prepared. Even Dave told me he was going to move on and start dating again.

I had everything I wanted and life was back to normal… The only thing missing was Dave…


	16. Chapter 16

**Dave's POV**

I had a couple of days at home over the weekend before I was back on the road again. I spent the first week drinking, not enough to become unconscious, but enough that both my head and liver began to hate me. It was my third to last night drinking that I came to the conclusion that I was feeling so lousy because I hadn't had sex since I met Jamie. I hadn't gone that long since before I hit puberty.

So, with my alcohol fueled mind I went looking for a cute young woman who was more than willing to give me what I wanted. I didn't have to go very far I found a gorgeous tall blonde in the elevator looking for the exact same thing I wanted. It didn't work; I woke up the next morning still feeling miserable.

After two more nights of alcohol fueled failed sex I figured that it was the alcohol to blame. I couldn't have both alcohol and sex, so I went completely sober. Amazingly it worked, I found myself thinking about Jamie, but the sex was good and it served as a relative distraction.

Every town we went to I found another woman, a woman with no name, no history and most of all no emotional attachments. I wrestled harder andstiffer and I started distancing myself from anything that reminded me of Jamie and that included most of my friends.

At the end of January we were in New York City for the Royal Rumble, I was competing in the actual Rumble and sharing a locker room with the other 29 competitors, including John. While I'd spoken to John a few times I hadn't seen him since the night I turned Jamie down. I was still kind of sore over his hang over prank and he was one of the closest links to Jamie, I was really happy to avoid him.

I walked in the locker room and was taken back. Except for brief visits, such as picking someone up, women weren't meant to be in the male locker rooms and vice-versa, unless it was a private room. When I walked in and saw John I realized he wasn't alone, sitting on his lap was the closest possible link to Jamie without actually being her or Eli. Sitting on John's lap making out with him was Alex and playing nearby was her and Jamie's sons.

"What are you doing here?" I asked abruptly breaking the two apart,

"I had to come and see Johnny win the big one," Alex smiled,

"He's not going to win," I laughed, there was no way John was going to win the Royal Rumble,

"Actually the results have been posted, I'm scheduled to win," John smirked.

"What?" I asked in shock, rumor mill was that I was going to win, "this is meant to be my match,"

"Yeah, well if you spent more time training and less time screwing everything that moves then maybe the powers-that-be would look a little kinder on you," John said, he was rather sarcastic and smug about getting a win over me,

"That reminds me Davie," Alex said standing up and walking over to me, the woman was more than a foot shorter than me, but man she was fierce, "let's take a little walk,"

"I… Uh… need to stay here," I muttered backing up slightly, "you know… pre-match rules and all that stuff…"

"What pre-match rules Dave?" Ken Kennedy asked walking in the room,

"The one… that… uh… says we have to stay here until our match or promo…" I rambled knowing that I was about to be called out on my lies. I gave Ken a serious look trying to get him not to open his mouth.

"I think you're talking about the rules that say you're more afraid to talk to my girlfriend than you are to get in the ring with any man on this roster," John smirked.

"Fine, let's walk," I said taking a deep breath, "but we won't get much talking done with the boys around,"

"Oh, they're going to stay with me, isn't that right, Eli, Jimmy?" John smirked,

"Yeah!" The young boys responded without looking up from their toys. I had been set up, John had heard about what I'd been doing and he'd bought out the big guns, a female! He had no right to do that, he'd slept around plenty of times so had his best friend, Randy and so had Paul and Ken and Chavo and every other guy on the roster, why should I have been any different?

Alex grabbed me by the sleeve and pulled me out of the room, I was quickly getting angry and being ganged up on, there was nothing wrong with what I was doing, no one was being hurt,

"You're an idiot!" Alex hissed back handing me across the chest. The hit stung a little, but in reality it barely penetrated my muscled chest,

"What's it to you?"

"Last time I checked we were friends and friends care about each other,"

"We're not friends!" I growled, "You are the best friend of the woman who royally screwed me over, and you're screwing one of my best friends that doesn't mean we're friends and it doesn't mean you have the right to butt into my love life," I hissed storming off,

"Love life?" Alex called after me, "Love life? You have no love life! A couple of weeks ago you screwed up! You made a mistake and you know it. You traded love for alcohol and when that didn't make you feel better you traded alcohol for sex. That's all you have now meaningless, dangerous, stupid, SEX," Alex yelled not caring who heard her.

I stopped dead in my tracks, after a moment I felt Alex's hand on my back, I didn't dare turn around and face her,

"Dave, you love Jamie and she loves you, but whether you two finally end up together or not is not the point. You're a great guy and any woman that ends up with you is going to be very lucky, but you can't spend all your time screwing nameless women. I know that you have a lot more respect for women than that and I definitely know you have a lot more respect for yourself. You even try to get the other guys around here to stop doing the exact same thing you're doing right now," I didn't say a word, but let Alex direct me back towards the locker room.

"Johnny babe, you need to talk to Davie he needs some guy words right now," Alex cooed to her boyfriend, "Come on boys, do you want ice cream?" she asked Eli and Jimmy who were out the door before she could finish her sentence. I watched with a pang of jealousy as John kissed his girlfriend goodbye.

John and I talked until our match, we had a good talk, but I still felt some pent up frustration at the fact I had been ganged up on. So, during the rumble I got a few stiff shots in and in turn John eliminated me. As he did he told me that if I ever spoke to his girlfriend the way I did tonight again, he would do a lot more than eliminate me from a match. That night, I went to bed alone.

The next night I went to bed alone again as I did the rest of the week. I was lonely and quickly realized that the going to bed alone thing wasn't working out too well. Backstage I started noticing things I'd never noticed before. Like the way Michelle McCool's hair flicked back as she left the ring, or how Melina's eyes sparkled when she got one over on an opponent. Then I noticed the way Maria smiled, and the way her hair sat, and how her hazel eyes just seemed to see right into your soul.

I started talking to her backstage and at the end of February I found the nerve to ask her out on a date. She thankfully said yes and after the show we went out for dinner and found ourselves back at her hotel room. We had coffee and I got to see a deeper side to this beautiful brunette. She was a couple of years younger than Jamie, but you could barely tell. In many ways she seemed much older, and then she had moments when I wondered if my children were older.

I spoke to Maria about my girls all the time I told her about Mel's great grades, Hailey's amazing music and Rachel's frustrating crushes. Rachel's latest was a fascination with Cody Rhodes and according to the conversation I recently had with him the feeling was mutual. The only way my daughter was dating that boy was over my dead body.

I didn't tell my girls about Maria though; they didn't need to know about her. Sure the company was great and the sex satisfying, okay more than satisfying, that woman was FLEXIBLE and that is definitely never a bad thing. But, I knew this relationship wasn't going to go very far, just something that help ward off the loneliness I was feeling and my daughters didn't need to know about it.

At the end of March we were wrestling in my home town, which meant my girls were there. They had decided they wanted to see the show live instead of watching it on monitors backstage so the three of them were sitting in the front row.

"There they are!" I pointed out to Maria, "Mel is on the far end then Hailey and Rachel," I explained glad that Rachel was sitting out front, I knew she wanted to spend some time with Cody, but I was trying to avoid that so I'd spoken to the ring side security and one of them was keeping a close eye on the girls.

"Rachel looks just like you, the other two not so much," Maria responded causing me to laugh, "what?"

"I adopted Rachel; she's the only one that doesn't have my genes,"

"Oh…" Maria was slightly embarrassed, but I could also tell she was trying to be interested in my girls, "You know, with a bit of a makeover, some new clothes and make up Rachel could be a real knock out, Hailey and Mel too,"

"No," I responded already moving into my over protective mode,

"What?"

"You are not making over my daughters,"

"Why not?"

"Because I play the role of the over protective daddy very well and I have enough problems keeping boysaway as it is,"

"You're no fun," Maria pouted. I pulled her onto my lap kissing that cute pout off her lips.

"Are you staying at the hotel tonight?" she asked pulling away after a moment.

"No, I'm sleeping in my own bed and spending some time with the girls,"

"Why can't I meet the girls?" Maria whined. It was an annoying habit she had, especially since it usually got her exactly what you wanted.

"Because… Because…" I stumbled trying to make up an excuse without blatantly coming out and saying that I didn't want her to meet my children because I hadn't told them I was dating anyone nor did I have any plans to tell them.

While I was trying to come up with a valid excuse, the monitor nearby caught my attention. Jamie was ringside working with some guy I didn't recognize; I figured she must have been training him. I wasn't sure who was wrestling, I was focused on Jamie. She was in the camera shot for a few moments as the in-ring action was on the ropes near her. She didn't care about the action in the ring, instead she was facing the guy she was training and had her head down trying to figure something out with the camera.

What happened next seemed to be in slow motion. A boot seemed to come out nowhere (I think it belonged to Matt Hardy) and slid under the bottom rope hitting Jamie in the temple. I watched as the woman stumbled before falling on the ground unconscious. I jumped to my feet sending Maria flying. I rushed out the room knowing that I had to get to the ring; I had to make sure Jamie was okay. As I left I heard Maria cry out,

"What's going on?"

"That's why he doesn't want you to meet his girls," I heard Ken respond in the distance. I was too far away to hear Maria's response and didn't learn the extent of my actions until a couple of days later when I listened to my messages and was ear bashed by the woman. She wouldn't answer my calls after that and I felt guilty, but in the long run I knew I'd done the right thing.

I got ringside just as the EMTs were loading Jamie onto a stretcher, there was blood on the side of her head and she was unconscious.

"Is she alright?" I asked stupidly,

"We won't know until we get her to the hospital,"

"Can I go with you? She needs someone with her," all I cared about at that moment was Jamie.

"What about Eli?" The guy she'd been training asked,

"DAD!" My daughter's cried from their front row seats. My head and my heart were racing and I couldn't tear my eyes away from the EMTs who were trying to do some basic tests.

"Come here!" I cried to my daughter's who jumped the barrier and raced over,

"Eli is with Glen, go get them. Take Eli back to our place, put him in one of your beds, and look after him!" I ordered, "And NO detours," I finished looking pointedly at my eldest daughter.

"Are you coming?" One of the EMTs called as they wheeled Jamie along the ramp.


	17. Chapter 17

**Jamie's POV**

I don't know what happened. I was ringside training in a new photographer, a nice young guy by the name of Joel. Usually Mark, a ringside veteran, trained the new guys, but he'd had surgery the week before and was at home recuperating. So, I'd stepped up to the plate, I didn't mind, I loved being ringside. The roar of the crowd, the heat from the men in the ring, the adrenalin of being so close to all the action, made it one of the best places to be, you couldn't be any closer unless you were actually in the ring itself.

Joel was a young guy, probably in his early 20s and you could tell he really cared about his photography. Backstage it was all he focused on and when we were ringside he looked completely devastated when the camera, a style he had admitted to not being too familiar with, jammed. I calmly took it from him and promised I'd fix it, the camera was old and starting to jam with some regularity, it was fiddly but easy to fix. I was working on it when it happened, I don't even know what it was, but one minute I was working on the camera then there was like a force that knocked me off my feet and that was it.

I entered a place where time and space didn't exist. It was a beautiful place, but I couldn't describe it, no words existed there either. You just existed, no worries, no responsibilities, you were just there.

I don't know how long I was in this new world, like I said time and space didn't exist there. But, I remember the first time I came back to the real world. It was very quick, everything became black and I heard beeping. There were three different beeps, one high pitched and very fast, the next was the same pitch but slower and the third was very deep and very slow, I only heard the third beep once, I could have imagined it. My head felt full, the same way it does when you have a bad head cold or sinus infection. Then as quickly as I entered the real world I left it again.

I began to enter the real world on a regular basis, it was similar each time, but it felt like my stays were getting longer. One time I tried to open my eyes, but it seemed that the connection between my eyes and my brain had been disconnected and they wouldn't open. So, I tried to move my arm, I felt it move slightly before my hand hit something. My brain couldn't process what it was, but it felt warm and safe. I carefully wrapped my fingers around it and then I slipped away again.

The next time I returned to the real world I felt more alert, more real. I realized my hand was still holding onto the warm, safe object I'd found on another visit and I could still hear the beeping, but this time it was different. I only heard two different beeps, I thought it odd. My head was full and heavy. Once when Eli had a cold he described his headache as feeling like there was a whole year worth of snot lodge up his nose and that's what I felt like, except it had escaped my nose and was sitting in my forehead.

I didn't know where I was and decided another attempt at opening my eyes. It felt like an eternity had passed before my eyes slowly flickered, I only caught glimpse of my surroundings, pastel green. After a few moments my eyes settled and I was able to look around, without moving my head I could see I was in a small room with pastel green walls and ceiling. Opening my eyes had caused near blinding pain, but I wasn't ready to close them again. Once the pain settled I slowly moved my head in the direction of the warm, safe object I had wrapped my hand around. Sitting next to the bed with his eyes drooping was the one person I never expected to see. If I was thinking straight I would have been shocked to see Dave sitting there instead I attempted to speak, it only came out as a whisper though,

"Hey," I said causing him to jump,

"Hey," he smiled his eyes lighting up. I watched as he picked up my hand that was wrapped around his and kissed it slightly, "How do you feel?"

"Like death. Am I dead?" I asked confused,

"Nope," He was now grinning ear to ear.

Suddenly a thought came to me and I got panicked,

"Where's Eli?" I asked trying to look around, but being accosted by the pain in my head,

"Its okay, Eli is with Jimmy at my place being spoiled rotten by my girls," Dave explained,

"Jimmy?" I was sure I only had one son, but the name Jimmy definitely sounded familiar.

"Alex flew in as soon as she heard you had been hurt," he explained. Alex, my best friend and Jimmy, her son, my brain registered.

"Where is she?" I asked needing some clarification from my friend,

"She went to get coffee, I can see her coming back now," Dave explained looking above me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw frantic movement and figured Dave was waving for Alex to come quickly.

Soon she was there,

"Jamie! You're awake. How do you feel?" Alex asked excitedly and I wondered how long I'd been in my new world for,

"Sore and confused," I muttered glancing at Dave slightly. My friend took the hint and turned to Dave,

"Go get the doctor," She ordered him. Dave seemed to make a slight noise, but soon got up and walked out promising to return shortly,

"Why's he here?" I asked,

"He's been here the whole time. He rode with you in the ambulance and said that he was your fiancé so that they'd tell him information and let him sign the consent forms,"

"Consent forms?" I asked, the fog over my brain was clearing slightly, but my head was agony.

"Yeah, you had… a… sub… sub… you had bleeding in your brain and had to have immediate surgery, well only a next of kin could give consent so he said he was your fiancé and they let him sign it. It saved your life. He hasn't left the hospital since, I seriously think this is the longest he's been away from your bedside, he's really worried," Alex explained. I didn't know what to think and because my head hurt so much I just let it all wash over me anyway, I would deal with everything later.

My eye lids started getting really heavy again and I let myself drift off, I knew Dave had come back with the doctor who did some tests which I did what I could to pass, but I was getting really sleepy. I drifted off again, this time into a dream land and not into the new world I'd found. I didn't visit that new land again and was kind of sad to say goodbye to it especially since the real world was painful, my head was agony.

Having spoken to Alex I knew where I was, the hospital, and somehow I had bleeding in the brain. I later learnt that Matt Hardy had accidently kicked me in the temple. He came and visited me at the hospital and spent half an hour apologizing profusely, I knew it was an accident and in the wrestling world accidents happen, even when you're not the one in the ring. Alex later told me that Matt had been flown home after the incident, but the moment he heard I was awake he'd come out to see me. I appreciated Matt coming, it showed that he cared and actually felt bad about the accident, I knew a couple of wrestlers who wouldn't have cared, they probably would have even gone as far to blame me for getting in the way.

The next time I woke up I learnt that it was Saturday; it was my 4th day in the hospital. I had apparently given them quite a scare, but I quickly learnt it wasn't enough to get my parents to arrive. I would be lying if I said it didn't bother me, it did, but I had Alex and Dave and that was enough. When I woke up on Saturday I noticed that Dave wasn't there, I figured that since I was out of the woods he must have gone back to work. I soon learnt that I was very wrong, I'd been awake for maybe 10 minutes talking to Alex and the doctor when I heard my son call out to me before rushing in the room,

"Eli!" I gasped, his calling out had irritated my hurting head. I wrapped an arm around my young son so glad to see him,

"Mommy! They said you were hurt and I wasn't allowed to come and see you," Eli had tears in his eyes,

"Yeah, mummy got hurt,"

"Are you okay now?" Eli asked his eyes full of concern,

"No, but I will be. I'll get out of hospital and we'll go back to Minnesota and you can spend a lot of time with Jimmy while I get better,"

"Sorry to disappoint you…" Dave said, for the first time I realized that he was in the room, he must have been the one who bought Eli, "but you're not flying anywhere anytime soon. Flying will risk a brain hemorrhage. You'll come back to my place and stay with me and the girls and I'll look after both you and Eli,"

"Don't you have work?" I asked taken back by the man's chivalrous gesture,

"Um… No…" Dave's neck was red and I could tell the man was embarrassed, "Apparently king hitting the boss' son is not acceptable no matter the reason, I'm on a 60 day suspension"

My eyes went wide I couldn't believe what I was hearing Dave had king hit Shane. I wondered why. Dave must have read my mind because as the red crept up his face he began to explain,

"I saw you get hurt and I had to get to you. Shane tried to stop me, I wasn't thinking, I was scared that you were seriously hurt and I had to make sure you were okay," I reached out and grabbed his hand. Something changed in that moment, I wanted to give him a hug and thank him, but I couldn't; "besides suspension means that I can make sure you get better," he smiled sadly.

"Dave…" I started, but I couldn't find the words. I didn't know what this meant, except that he cared about me.

A couple of days later I was begging the doctor to let me leave the hospital and, after John showed up and encouraged Eli and Jimmy to have wheelchair races in the hall, he agreed. Dave bought his biggest, most comfortable car to the hospital and carefully helped me into it. At his house Dave insisted on carrying me in, knowing that I was still woozy on my feet. I started to argue, but it hurt my head too much so I just let him.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he began to carry me upstairs. In the past I had stayed downstairs in the guest room, actually I'd never really seen the upstairs except for when he gave Eli and me the grand tour during our first visit. Even when we were engaged I stayed in the guest room as it was close to Eli and the girls found it awkward to have me upstairs.

"You're going to stay in my room," Dave responded. I had never been in his room and I was curious as to why I was suddenly being privileged to the area, "it's quieter up here. It means that everyone can go crazy downstairs without risk of hurting your head… I'll be sleeping in Rachel's room, she's up at college," Dave added quickly.

Over the next couple of weeks Dave was the perfect nurse and Mel and Hailey were the perfect babysitters. Eli was okay sleeping downstairs while Jimmy was there, but a couple of days after I came home Alex had to go back to work. Hailey sweetly gave up her room so that Eli could be nearby. In the mornings he'd wake up and come crawl into bed with me for snuggles then he'd come in various times throughout the day and snuggle with me, my head hurt too much for many lights and TV, but Eli was happy just to spend time with me.

It wasn't long before I was starting to feel better and taking short trips around the house. One night I was restless so I went for a little walk. I made it as far as Rachel's bedroom where Dave was lying on the bed reading. He was in boxer shorts, his hair was a mess and his socked feet were hanging over the bed. He looked incredibly cute, and I felt my heart beat faster.

"Hey," I whispered knocking on the door hoping not to give him a fright. He looked up from the magazine he was reading and upon seeing me he jumped to his feet,

"Hey, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk," I responded walking in and sitting down on the bed. The way he looked as well as the walk made my head spin. Dave sat down wrapping an arm around me while my head was spinning. It didn't help, his touch just made matters worse. Apparently when I'd been kicked my brain threw out the information that Dave had recently ripped my heart to shreds.

"What's up?" He asked after a few moments, I looked at him and pondered the best way to pose my question, the reason for my visit. I finally decided that the straight up route was the best way to go,

"Why did you hit Shane?" I asked carefully, I'd asked this question before, but this time I was looking for a deeper answer,

"I told you, he stood in my way. I needed to make sure that you were okay, I didn't know it was Shane at the time," Dave said simply,

"But Dave, what do you care?" I asked carefully, "Just a couple of months ago you were telling me you didn't want me. You rejected me, you're dating Maria so what do you care if I get hurt?" My voice quivered slightly and I silently cursed myself.

"You're right," Dave said simply before standing up to create distance between us, "but after I turned you down I felt like crap. I convinced myself that I felt like crap not because I had turned down the one woman I ever loved but, because I hadn't had sex since I met you. So I went and had sex and I felt a bit better so I had more and more and more. Until Alex yelled at me and John hit me for yelling at Alex. Then I started dating Maria and things were good. I knew I didn't love Maria. I didn't even tell the girls that I was dating her, but the sex was good and she helped fight off the loneliness. But something wasn't right, I was missing something and I wasn't ready to admit that I'd made a hell of a mistake turning you down. I was backstage with Maria and you were on the monitor, I couldn't take my eyes off you and suddenly, you got kicked. I felt like my lungs had been ripped out of my body, like I'd been kicked in the guts. All I knew was that the woman I loved was hurt and I had to be there.

"At the hospital I kept telling myself that I'd stay until you woke up and then I'd leave. I was sure that you would have moved on and would want nothing to do with me, but I couldn't leave until you woke up. Then you reached out and grabbed my hand and I felt like you were saying that you didn't want me to leave," Dave explained quietly,

"It was warm and safe," I muttered,

"What?"

"I didn't know what I was grabbing, but it felt warm and safe and I knew I needed to hold on and not to let go," I explained. There was silence for a minute before I stood up and walked over to Dave I wrapped an arm around his neck pulling him down until his lips met mine. Dave stood there for a moment before wrapping his arms around me and deepening the kiss.


	18. Chapter 18

**Dave's POV**

The ride to the hospital was hell. From my seat up the front I could hear the paramedics working on Jamie while the ambulance rushed through the streets of DC. My heart was thrashing and I thought it might explode through my chest, I couldn't hear much from the back just that Jamie wasn't stable. While it was only a short drive to the hospital it seemed to take forever and when we finally arrived, the ER doctors rushed to the ambulance surrounding Jamie. I was directed to the waiting room where I was instructed to fill out some forms. I was grateful that I had a good memory and was able to fill them out without many problems.

I did however get stuck on a question and had to call Jamie's mother, she was devastated by the news but wasn't about to jump on a plane to be with her daughter. Their relationship had been severely strained from the kidnapping. John had even told me that Jamie had moved out and hershe and Eli were now living with Alex, Jimmy and, most the time, John.

I had finished the form and was pacing the hallway waiting to hear something from the doctor when my phone rang,rang; I glanced down and saw Alex's number, in my panicked state I had forgotten to call her.

"Lex, I can't tell you anything," I answered knowing that Jamie's mother must have called her.

"What happened?"

"She got kicked in the temple… Wait a doctor is coming now, I'll call you back,"

"I'm going to get the next flight out,"

"Just wait," I said hanging up on her.

"Yes?" I asked turning to the doctor,

"She's bleeding into her brain, she needs surgery immediately,"

"Then what are you waiting for?" I asked wondering why the doctor was telling me this instead of doingof doing the blasted surgery.

"Consent," he shrugged,

"Show me where to sign," I was frustrated, a woman was possibly dying and all they cared about was the paperwork?

"Consent must be given by an immediate family member,member or next of kin"

"Her family lives in Minnesota,"

"Then we must get court ordered consent," The doctor said beginning to walk away. I raced after him ready to hit him, but as I grabbed his shoulder an idea came to me,

"I'm her fiancé can I sign the consent?" I asked lying, only slightly. I'd been her fiancé once; they just didn't need to know we'd broken up. Jamie could yell at me after I had given permission to save her life.

They let me sign the paperwork and while I was signing they took Jamie to the operating room. I paced the waiting room for hours, the nurse attempted to joke about me wearing a path in the floor, but it didn't work, I was too nervous.

"Dave!" A voice called in the wee hours of the morning,

"ALEX" I cried wrapping her in a hug, I was so glad to see a friendly face. She didn't question my being there, but held me close and we waited to hear what was going on with Jamie. It petrified me that she wasn't out of surgery yet.

The next time we saw the doctor the sun was beginning to rise. I saw him walking towards me and jumped to my feet causing Alex to do the same,

"How is she?" I asked,

"She made it through surgery, but she's in a bad shape. We had trouble finding the source of the bleed and stopping it, which is why the surgery took so long. We won't know anything until she wakes up and at the moment she has lost a lot of blood and has quite extensive swelling in the brain,"

"Can we see her?" Alex asked, her words sounded like they were coming through a vacuum, I could barely hear her.

"Her fiancé can see her, but unless you're family you will have to wait," Alex raised an eyebrow and I shrugged giving her a look that she automatically understood,

"I'm her sister," she said and the doctor led us back. I don't know whether he believed our stories or if he was just too tired to care, besides Alex was more of a sister to Jamie that any of her blood relatives ever were.

I told myself I'd stay until Jamie woke up, I had to make sure she was going to be okay and then, then I could leave. She probably wouldn't want me to be there once she woke up anyway. Then late on Thursday night I was beginning to doze off things began to change. I felt something

bbrush against my hand; at first I thought I was imagining things. It was late and I was exhausted, but then I felt it again and Jamie's soft hand wrapped around mine. I held her hand and spent the next hour trying to get a reaction from her. Though I couldn't get her to respond to my pleas she held onto my hand and I knew then I wouldn't be able to leave.

The next time Jamie showed real signs of life was Saturday morning, she opened her eyes and I knew things were going to be okay. I hesitantly took her hand and kissed it slightly trying to remain confident. It hadn't taken an idiot to realize that I was completely in love. The thought that Jamie might die petrified me, I couldn't think of living without her. How I was able to turn her down months ago was now a mystery to me. I definitely loved her.

When she woke up I knew I couldn't leave, she needed someone to look after her besides I couldn't bear to walk away again. I took her back to my place and she began to recuperate. She was staying in my room and I was staying in Rachel's, the bed was a bit small and uncomfortable, but I was more concerned about Jamie.

One night, a few weeks after brining Jamie home, she came into Rachel's room and quietly confronted me, she wanted to know why I'd hit Shane. Then she kissed me, I was taken back a moment but then I couldn't help myself. I wrapped my arms around her and deepened the kiss. We kissed until she stumbled slightly pulling back and grabbing her head.

"Are you okay?" I asked grabbing her protectively and helping her to the bed.

"Yeah, just a little light headed," she said a moment later still holding her head lightly,

"Let me help you back to bed," I said gently, not wanting to force her to stand up before she was ready.

"Why don't you take me downstairs? This room is too small for you; you need your bed back."

"No it's okay. Your health is my main concern," I muttered helping as Jamie tried to stand up, she sighed and I helped her slowly back to my room.

As she sat on my bed I got ready to leave,

"Well… Goodnight," I muttered, not really wanting to go anywhere. Rachel's bed was much smaller than mine and I was waking up with a stiff and sore back and legs. I would love the chance to sleep in my own bed again, a bed designed especially for me. I also wanted to stay with Jamie, I needed to be with her, but I knew there was very little chance of her ever taking me back.

"Wait," Jamie muttered grabbing my hand, "why don't you stay here?"

"What?"

"You're starting to turn into a question mark, you need to sleep in your bed and I'll go downstairs," Jamie said standing up.

"No you stay in here; the mattress on this bed promotes healing,"

"Well then why don't we share? This bed is big enough for the two of us and all of our kids," Jamie smirked, she was right it was a big bed. It was larger than a King, completely customized for my particular needs.

I looked across at Jamie,

"Jamie…" I started, not sure what I was planning to say. I wanted to share a bed with Jamie, I always slept better when I did, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to contain myself. I knew I'd screwed up big time; there was no way I was going to get another chance with her.

"Look Dave, I know you don't want to be with me and I'm not trying to convince you of that, that ship has sailed. This is your bed and you deserve to sleep in it, sleep is all I'm suggesting," I closed my eyes a moment, Jamie had things very wrong, but I didn't know how to convince her otherwise,

"Alright," I sighed after a moment.

I walked around to the other side of the room and lay down on the bed,

"Can I turn the light off?" Jamie asked quietly, "my head is starting to throb," she moaned.

"Go ahead," I replied as the room went dark. I heard Jamie roll over, her back towards me. I lay there for a moment knowing that Jamie was tense and needing to relax, but knowing that I really shouldn't do anything. Eventually I rolled over and began to rub her back.

"Dave…" Jamie moaned,

"Do you want me to stop?" I whispered all I was doing was rubbing her back but the simple touch was doing more to me than I expected. I nearly wanted her to beg me to stop, but at the same time I know if I would be able to,

"No," Jamie muttered, I loved it when someone rubbed my back and it always made me feel better, so I didn't blame her for wanting me to continue,

"Roll onto your stomach," I said helping her to roll over before resting my knees either side of her, once again began to work on her back.

I tried to distance myself from what I was doing, I wanted to help Jamie relax, but it was having a big affect on me. Suddenly Jamie rolled back onto her back,

"It's kind of painful lying like that, makes my head hurt," Jamie muttered looking up at me. Unable to help myself I leant down and gently kissed her forehead, just below the bandage that made her look like a mummy.

"Better?" I asked slightly, my lips lingering above the spot I'd just kissed. Jamie took a deep breath closing her eyes momentarily. The touch of my lips against her skin and the lingering feelings from the earlier kiss were too strong. While her eyes were closed I lowered my lips against hers. After a moment Jamie pushed me back slightly,

"You don't have to…"

"I know," I responded, "but I want to," I said once again kissing her,

"You want to?"

"Yes Jamie, I want to," I said, just then my watch beeped and Jamie gasped in pain, "it's time for your medication," I changed the topic and finally moved from my position above Jamie. I found her tablets and got her a glass of water before handing them over, she gulped them down and I kissed her on the cheek slightly,

"We'll discuss this in the morning," I whispered knowing that the medication was already beginning to take effect and Jamie would soon be asleep.

"Okay, night," she responded sleepily.

I watched her sleep for a while, before slowly drifting off to sleep. I woke up when Eli began to stir on the monitor. After all that had happened recently I didn't want Eli to walk in and find me in bed with his mom, it would have just confused matters even more. So before the young boy could fully wake and make his way into the room I snuck out and headed downstairs to start making some breakfast. I usually didn't eat much in the way of breakfast, but I was ravenous and so were Mel and Hailey, who hadn't had much of an appetite the night before.

"Hey Dad?" Mel ask digging into some pancakes,

"Yeah?"

"Where were you last night?"

"Rachel's room, where I've been sleeping the last few nights," I lied curious to what my daughter wanted,

"No, I had a bad dream last night and went in to Rachel's room to find you, but you weren't there,"

"Oh yeah, well, uh, Jamie was having some problems and so I guess I stayed with her," I muttered feeling like a teenager being busted for sneaking out.

"Are you two going to get back together?" Hailey asked speaking up for the first time. Hailey was not a fan of mornings; it took her a cup of coffee and some food before she began to feel and act human.

It was a good question, were Jamie and I going to get back together? I wanted to, but I didn't deserve another chance, not after the way I'd turned her down the last time,

"I want to, I really love her, but I doubt she'll take me," I responded after a few minutes,

"Who'll take you?" A soft voice asked from the stairs. I looked up and saw Jamie slowly walking towards us holding onto Eli's hand. She hadn't been downstairs since I'd bought her home from the hospital, "the smell of pancakes got to me," she said before wobbling a little. I quickly jumped up and helped her to a seat,

"Take it easy," I urged, not wanting another trip to the E.R or days with her unconscious,

"So who'll take you where?" Jamie asked after her head stopped spinning,

"Nothing," I rushed out, knowing that I did not want to have this conversation in front of the children.

"Hailey just asked Dad if you two were going to get back together," Mel smiled mischievously,

"Thank you Mel…" I growled slightly.

There was a heavy silence over the table for a couple of minutes while everyone ate. I played with my food as I watched Jamie carefully cut her food and looked over it as though she was reading a book, before finally putting it in her mouth. She chewed her piece of pancake slowly before swallowing,

"Well girls, your father made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with me the last time this topic was on the table," my heart broke, she was hurt and angry and didn't want anything more to do with me,

"Things must have changed then… Because he was just telling Mel and me how much he loves you and wants to mend your relationship, except he's scared because he doesn't think he deserves you and that you'll take him back," Hailey said, it was clear that my daughters had taken on the role of match maker, I guess everyone was sick of this little game of cat and mouse Jamie and I had been playing.

"Thank you Hailey. Though I do believe in answer to your question 'Are you two going to get back together', my words were 'I want to, I really love her, but I'll doubt she'll take me'," After I said it, I realized that my words probably made matters worse. Hailey shrugged slightly,

"I read between the lines,"

"Mommy, I think you and Dave should get back together," Eli said quietly tugging on his mother's arm.


	19. Chapter 19

**Jamie's POV**

"Things must have changed then… Because he was just telling Mel and me how much he loves you and wants to mend your relationship, except he's scared because he doesn't think he deserves you or that you'll take him back," Hailey explained matter of factually. I couldn't believe what she was saying, but I also figured she was a teenager until her dad spoke up,

"Thank you Hailey. Though I do believe in answer to your question 'Are you two going to get back together', my words were 'I want to, I really love her, but I'll doubt she'll take me'," He apparently wanted me back? He loved me? Then why had he turned me down? He had also had a valid point, why should I take him back? Not after the games he'd played with me, the way he'd messed with my heart.

I couldn't say a word, everyone was putting in their two cents over Dave and my, complicated, relationship, even my son had something to say. I began to wish that my brain hadn't recently been turned to mush thanks to Matt Hardy's boot. Since I'd woken up at the hospital and realized that I'd been holding Dave's hand I had been confused. I'd kissed him when I'd gone to talk to him and then to make matters worse, he kissed me. He promised we'd talk about things later. I didn't like the idea of talking, things should have just been left in the past, what was with Dave and this power he had over me?

I continued playing with my food silently; I didn't know how to respond and had barely noticed that the rest of the table had fallen silent,

"Hey girls, why don't you take Eli into the living room and put on some cartoons," Dave's deep voice broke my thoughts.

"What about our pancakes?" Hailey asked,

"Take them with you; just make sure you help Eli,"

"But you said we're not meant to eat pancakes in the living room," Mel bated, I looked up and her face told me that they were just trying to stay in the room while Dave and I spoke.

"I did no such thing, now get out of here," Dave growled flicking his thumb in the direction of the living room,

"But I want to stay here and listen," that was my son, he had yet to reach the age where he would come up for mysterious reasons to stay in the room like Mel and Hailey did,

"But, Go Diego Go is on," Dave said simply, and my son was out of the room in a flash. Despite everything he still loved Diego.

I was alone in the room with Dave and the air was heavy, I could tell that he was nervous.

"You know even your five and a half year old thinks that we should stop playing this game of cat and mouse,"

"Yeah, well my five and a half year old believes that Mark and Glen are close personal friends with Santa Claus," I responded sarcastically.

"Fine, let's ignore what your five and a half year old said and just talk,"

"There isn't much to talk about David," I said, I was trying to stay distant and didn't want to give Dave any help.

I no longer knew how I felt about Dave, okay, maybe that wasn't the complete truth. I loved Dave, I knew that, but I couldn't handle the pulling and pushing. He wanted me then he didn't want me, now he says he wanted me again? I didn't even know if I should even listen to what he had to say. He had a way with words that had ran the risk of me falling for him all over again, I preferred to stay at a distance, it meant he had less chance of destroying my heart, if there was anything left intact.

"I think there is a lot to talk about Jamison," Dave responded calling me by my full first name, it was only fair; I'd called him by his full first name,

"Well I have nothing to say,"

"Then let me talk," he said moving to the seat my son had originally sat in, "in Colorado you broke my heart and fair enough, your life had been completely turned upside down, you didn't know who to believe. I stupidly thought that the best way to show you the truth was to get your son back, but when I did you still seem to think that I was trying to manipulate you or something weird like that. When it finally clicked that I was actually the good guy, because, you know, I have always been the good guy, you came to me and expected me to just ignore how much you'd hurt me.

"You know the only thing I've done wrong this whole time was not wrapping you in my arms and never letting go. I was just stupid enough to listen to my head and not my heart and now I'm afraid that I will never get you back. Then last night you kissed me, and then I kissed you and you didn't push me away. So now I'm really confused," Dave said opening his heart,

"Well, that was because of the head injury, I'm not thinking straight," I brushed him off; I didn't want him to know that I was just as confused as he was.

"Okay..." Dave shrugged beginning to stand up. He was half way out the room before he paused and turned around, "Is there a part, just one part, of you, perhaps somewhere deep down, that still loves me, to any degree?" I looked up at Dave he looked so venerable and I couldn't bear to keep looking at him.

I stood up and slowly walked over to him, my head was spinning with emotions and the slowly building headache from my injury,

"No there isn't one part of me that still loves you," Dave's face sunk at my words,

"Oh,"

"There was never a part that stopped loving you," I said reaching a hand up and running it along his well-defined jaw, "I'm... I'm just... I'm just confused," I finally admitted,

"What is there to be confused about?" Dave asked honestly.

I didn't know how to answer his question; I was confused on why I was even confused. I was afraid of losing him again, while it sucked not to have him at least I didn't risk having my heart destroyed again. If he didn't have me, he couldn't destroy me.

"Everything."

**Alex's POV**

It was late on a Friday night. Jimmy should have been in bed, but Bryan had messed him around again and since he didn't have school the next day I decided he could stay up and watch a movie. He was lying on the couch watching The Incredibles, his popcorn was barely touched and he was beginning to fall asleep. I was lying on the opposite couch, also beginning to fall asleep. John was meant to have arrived several hours before, but I hadn't heard from him. His flight's were sometimes delayed or even cancelled, but he was generally pretty good with letting us know.

The TV was loud enough that I didn't hear the front door open, or the sound of a bag thumping on the floor.

"DAD!" Jimmy screamed jumping to his feet and racing across the room. I half expected it to be Bryan. He had was meant to have picked Jimmy up from school and take him camping for the weekend, but he'd called an hour before Jimmy got out of class and gave me some lame excuse about having to go out of town on an urgent business trip. That was his latest reason behind not spending time with his son. He'd been on 4 'business trips' in the last two weeks, and I was dying to ask what a Sam's Club employee did on a business trip.

The look on Jimmy's face was devastating when he saw me waiting for him at school. I knew he had been excited about the camping trip and me picking him up meant not only his dad had cancelled, he also wasn't going camping. He'd been silent in the car and not even the promise of McDonald's had gotten him to perk up. At dinner he looked across the table and sighed,

"Mom, when's dad coming back?"

"Jimmy, I told you," I explained, "he's on a business trip, he doesn't know when he'll be back,"

"I don't mean him, I meant John, my real dad. Is he coming home this weekend?" That should have been my first clue, Jimmy no longer looked at Bryan as his father, John had filled that void.

"John's not your real dad,"

"But he does everything my friend's dads do and when he promises me something, he actually does it!"

"He should be back tonight," I sighed, not really knowing what else to say.

The 'dad' my son had screamed out was to John, not Bryan.

"Hey Jimmy, what are you doing still up?" John said bending down and throwing my son in the air before hugging him.

"Mom said I could watch The Incredibles,"

"It's getting late now, so why don't you run upstairs and get ready for bed?" I suggested concerned about John.

"But, I want to hang out with John,"

"Your mom is right, it's late. But you know what?" John asked smiling,

"What?"

"I'll be here when you wake up in the morning and you and I can make pancakes and watch cartoons in our pyjamas all morning while your mom sleeps in,"

"Really?" Jimmy's eyes had grown wide in excitement. I never saw that excitement in his eyes when Bryan was telling him something, he didn't believe Bryan's promises anymore, but John hadn't given him any reason not to believe him,

"Really!" John smiled roughing up Jimmy's hair slightly. Jimmy ran towards the stairs before pausing and spinning around,

"What?" I asked only to have him indicate for me to join him, "what Jimmy?" I asked quietly when I got to the stairs,

"I want to show da... I mean John my new pyjamas," he whispered. I'd recently bought him a pair of John Cena pyjamas, at his request, that he was really excited about,

"John will come up and say goodnight when you're in bed and you can show him them then," I promised before sending my son upstairs.

I turned around and saw that John was leaning against the door way causally.

"I missed you, how come you're so late?" I asked walking over and giving him a kiss hello,

"My flight was delayed and my phone died," John shrugged; it felt fantastic having his arms wrapped around me. I hadn't seen him in two weeks. It had been the longest we'd been apart since he'd come to stay when Eli had been kidnapped, "Isn't he meant to be camping with Bryan?" John asked glancing up the stairs where we could hear Jimmy brushing his teeth.

"Business trip," I muttered, "What happened to your face?" I asked noticing that he had light bruising around his eye and a cut lip.

"Nothing, I've gotten into worse scrapes than this," John said his face suddenly growing sullen, "I have to tell you something,"

"What?" I asked. Leading him over to the couch before sitting on his lap,

"Jimmy will be calling out soon," He said kissing me, "we can talk after he's gone to bed," sure enough as soon as the words came out of John's mouth we heard Jimmy calling from his bedroom,

"I'll make us a hot drink, you go say goodnight to Jimmy, make sure you make a big deal about his new pyjamas," I got off his lap and sent him upstairs.

An hour and many stories later John and I were sitting in the living room drinking coffee. His feet were rested on the coffee table and I was curled up against him, in that moment things seemed perfect.

"It appears that your son is under the impression that I am his father," John smirked slightly,

"It appears so," I shrugged nervous about where this conversation was about to lead, "earlier he said that you did all the things that his friend's dads do and you keep your promises. He's lost faith in Bryan and you sweep in on your white horse, and play with him and love him. He said that you're his real dad,"

"I wish I was because then I could do all the things that Bryan promises and never follows through on. I could stop him from always being so disappointed,"

"You know you don't have to be his father to do that," I sighed, more in love with the man than ever,

"Yeah, but if I was his father, then I would be his mother's husband... and well... I kind of like that prospect," John smiled, "Lex, I love you, why don't we make it official? Will you marry me?" He said pulling out a beautiful ring, my heart was beating a million miles an hour and my jaw was on the floor.

I thought about John, he'd been my knight in shining armour when we realized that Jim had been manipulating me. He'd shown up and helped look for Eli, Jimmy had taken a real shining to him and he was really good with Jimmy. I loved John and knew without a doubt that he loved me; he wasn't manipulating me or anything,

"I love you," I smiled leaning up and kissing him,

"So is that a yes?" He laughed his arms holding me close, his forehead resting against mine.

"Yeah,"

Later that night John and I were lying in bed,

"What's with Jimmy's pyjamas?" John asked smirking slightly,

"He wanted to be dressed like his hero," I sighed gazing down at the ring on my finger,

"But I sleep naked," John grinned,

"Not when you're here you don't. Especially since he climbs into bed with us half the time,"

"Well if we're going to get married then maybe we need to rethink the pyjama thing," John winked pulling me on top of him

I let him kiss me for a moment when I remembered that he had something to tell me,

"What did you want to tell me?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you came in tonight, your face went all doom and gloom and you said you had something to tell me,"

"Oh... Yeah... Jim showed up at the arena,"

"Jim?"

"Yeah, you know the guy who manipulated..."

"I know who he is," I snapped out an answer not wanting him to go into the grizzly details.

"Anyway he showed up. Randy and I told him he should leave, he got defensive and we got into a fight. He got off a couple of good shots; Randy got a broken jaw, I just got a black eye and a busted lip. Security showed up and then the police. Jim got more aggressive, anyway he hit a police officer and another one pulled a gun and..." John hesitated.

"What?" I asked barely believing what I was being told.

"And... He's dead... Jim's dead".


	20. Chapter 20

**Dave's POV**

"What are you confused about?" I asked Jamie honestly, I could see the hurt in her eyes and wished that I could take it away. I'd taken it away in the past, but this time I knew it was because of me.

"Everything," she muttered before swaying slightly and falling over. I lunched forward and caught her just before she hit the ground,

"Are you okay?" I asked picking her up,

"Yeah, just a little dizzy," Jamie's voice was weak,

"You need to lie back down," I said carrying her upstairs. It was probably not the wisest decision having the relationship discussion while Jamie was still recovering from a serious head injury.

I carefully carried Jamie up the stairs and lay her down on my bed,

"You're a regular knight in shining armour aren't you?" Jamie smirked slightly as I tucked her in,

"Only for the ones I love," I smiled back, "now get some rest," I said before turning to leave.

"I worked out why you said no all those months ago," Jamie said quietly as I reached the door.

"Why?" I asked t still facing the door, afraid that she might really know the answer.

"It was about trust," I closed my eyes and turned to face Jamie,

"I have always trusted you Jamie," I explained sitting down on the other side of the bed, keeping my distance,

"I know that, but you didn't believe that I trusted you," I felt my head drop at Jamie's words. Why would I believe that she trusted me when she always kept up a barrier? Even when I was doing everything to prove to her that I wasn't like Conner, "But I do trust you Dave," I looked up at Jamie; I guess my look was of disbelief,

"I really do, not even my parents came to the hospital when I got injured, Conner probably would have been the one putting me there himself. You and I were over, I'd broken your heart and you in turn broke mine, but you were there. I've trusted you since the moment you rescued me from Booker T and had the first chance to sleep with me, but didn't make a move. I thought you may have been gay, but I trusted you,"

"Wait... You thought I was gay?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"It crossed my mind, I mean you nearly kissed me a couple of times, but then you always jumped away relieved," Jamie shrugged carefully,

"You always tensed up, I didn't want to overstep anything. If you have always trusted me then why are you confused?" I asked now confused myself, but hoping we were getting closer to some absolution.

"Because I've never trusted someone like I trust you, I've never loved someone like I love you. It's been an insanely crazy couple of years, and you said it yourself... We've been playing a game of cat and mouse lately. I haven't been happy in a long time and I just want that back,"

"When were you last happy?" I asked knowing the answer that I wanted.

I watched as Jamie contemplated her answer, she glanced around the room before smiling sadly,

"The week we got engaged, everything was finally falling into place, then a week later the phone calls started from Conner and all of a sudden my world began to fall apart. Maybe I'm not meant to be happy," Jamie sighed her shoulders slumped,

"Everyone is meant to be happy. We can go back to that point you know," I said moving closer to Jamie, ecstatic to know that she had been happiest with me,

"How could we do that?" Jamie asked looking up,

"By wiping the slate clean, by walking away from the last couple of years. The same way the counsellor is trying to teach Eli to do. You can either go through something or grow through something. We can grow through this and move on,"

"Wiping the slate clean? Really? Everything will be the same as it was before?"

"Yes, just the way it was before, just now we're a little older and a little wiser and won't make the same mistakes. You and I belong together," I smiled running a hand down Jamie's face. I stood up and walked around the side of the bed opening the bedside drawer and pulling out the small box that had I had angrily thrown in there when I returned home after Eli had come home from the hospital.

I got down on one knee beside the bed and took one of Jamie's hands in my own,

"Jamie, I love you, will you please marry me?" I asked opening the box and slipping the ring on Jamie's finger. It was Jamie's ring, the one I'd bought her all those years before hand. Jamie looked down at her hand contemplating the promises I'd just made.

Jamie grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the bed beside her. She pushed me back onto the pillows so that I was lying on my back before kneeling over me. Jamie leaned down and kissed me. I was taken back a moment before relaxing into the kiss encouraging her to deepen it. I felt her tongue slip between my lips so I allowed her entry. I was beginning to lose myself in the kiss when I felt her hands slide down my chest and under my shirt. I shivered at her touch and soon she was pulling my shirt over my head.

"Jamie..." I muttered catching my breath a moment,

"Shh", she shushed me, before leaning back on her heals and pulling her own shirt off. Her shirt got caught on a bandage and tugged slightly causing her to gasp in pain so I sat up and helped her carefully finished getting it off. Before watching as she removed her bra.

"What are you doing?" I asked, not really complaining, I'd dreamt about a moment like this for a long time,

"Proving that I trust you,"

"I know you trust me, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," I said carefully,

"I want to," Jamie said before dropping her head and backing away, "unless you don't want to."

I felt so guilty for questioning her; I pulled Jamie against me, my bare chest against hers,

"I definitely want to, but I'm not going to force you into anything," I said between kissing her,

"You never have," Jamie smirked before trailing her hands towards my waistband. All coherent and logical thought left my mind as Jamie proceeded to show me how much she trusted me.

Making love to Jamie was the best thing I'd ever experienced. Maria was flexible, but it was just sex, but Jamie was gentle and loving. After we had both been sent over the brink we were lying in each other's arms,

"Wow," Jamie sighed glancing up at me, "that was just... wow." I looked down and Jamie and chuckled slightly,

"So, is that a yes?" Jamie looked up at me, only half conscious, it was clear that her head was throbbing,

"Yes," she whispered quietly before closing her eyes.

Watching her doze a minute I quietly congratulated myself on getting tested when she was in the hospital, I'd slept with a lot of different women after I had turned Jamie down, who knows what I could have possibly contracted. Thankfully the tests had come back clear; I would never have slept with Jamie if they hadn't.

I let Jamie fall asleep, silently promising that things would be a lot calmer and less confusing. I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep with her, but as my eyes began to close I heard Eli screaming for his mother, Jamie began to stir at the sound of her son,

"Go back to sleep, I'll look after him," I whispered kissing her cheek gently.

Eli went silent for a moment and I relaxed, until I heard him call out again. I jumped up, pulled on some boxer shorts and raced down the hallway, I found Eli making his way up the stairs calling out to his mother,

"Eli what's wrong?" I asked the boy,

"I want my mum!"

"Your mum is sleeping at the moment, can I help you?"

"I wanted to make sure she was okay,"

"She's fine, how about you kids go and get dressed and I'll take you to the movies so that your mum can sleep?" I said also addressing Mel and Hailey who were coming up the stairs.

The kids were excited about the prospect of the movie and Mel and Eli raced to get changed. Hailey hesitated a moment,

"What?" I asked raising an eyebrow,

"I was just wondering..." Hailey began and got a little smirk,

"Yes?"

"Was that make-up sex or goodbye sex?" Hailey asked, I felt my face go slightly red,

"That was none of your dang business sex,"

"Ah, but it was sex then?" My usually quiet, shy middle daughter was nearly laughing at this point, it was clear that she was just trying to get a rise out of me and as I felt my face get hotter I knew she was achieving.

"Just go and get dressed,"

"I really hope you're planning to get dressed yourself, boxer shorts are generally frowned upon when worn in public without any outer layers," I glared at my daughter and playfully pushed her towards her room.

I returned to my bedroom and watched Jamie sleep a moment before getting changed into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Once I was changed I knelt down beside the bed,

"Jamie?" I said gently, she grunted a response, "I'm going to take all the kids out for a movie so that you can sleep," another grunted response, "Eli is coming too,"

"Okay," Jamie finally muttered without even opening an eye. I leant down and gently kissed her on the cheek,

"I love you," I smiled slightly pulling away,

"I love you too," she muttered taking my hand a moment and holding it to her face. I wrote her a quick note, so that she would remember where we had gone, then left.

**John's POV**

I was woken early on Saturday morning by an eager young boy bouncing on the bed,

"Alex, your son is awake," I muttered rolling over,

"It's Saturday, he's your son today. You promised him pancakes and cartoons, while I slept in!" Alex rolled towards me, her eyes were still closed, but she smiled anyway.

"Come on John! You promised!" Jimmy whined, it was fair enough, I had promised to spend the morning with him.

"Alright," I sighed, beginning to pull back the blankets, Alex stopped me running her hand along my hip reminding me that I was naked, "you head down and put the cartoons on, I'll be down in five minutes," I watched as Jimmy accepted my response and bounded out the room.

I glanced at Alex whose eyes were still closed; I could tell that she was trying to sleep. After finding out about Jim's death the night had been turbulent. She was happy that Jim was dead and wasn't going to return, but felt guilty for being so happy. I wished that I could have given Alex some peace; let her understand that the way she was feeling was completely acceptable.

I kissed Alex passionately moving closer to her, she kissed back and let our tongues dance until she pulled back slightly,

"You promised Jimmy pancakes,"

"I have five minutes," I smirked,

"He's 6, you have another minute at best," Alex smirked back reaching beside the bed and throwing a pair of pyjama pants at me,

"Geeze, we're not even married and I'm getting kicked out of bed,"

"Go spend time with the boy, let me sleep. The more sleep I get now the more awake I'll be tonight," Alex winked.

I pulled on the pair of pants that Alex had thrown at me and climbed out of bed. I was barely at the top of the stairs when I saw Jimmy begin to make his way up them.

"Come on boy, aren't those cartoons starting?" I announced trying to sound awake and cheerful. I followed Jimmy back down the stairs and we lay on the couch watching cartoons for a while, I have to admit I started falling back asleep,

"John... John... JOHN!" Jimmy screamed, I must have dozed off or was blatantly staring into space,

"What?" I asked turning my attention to the 6 year old that looked just like his mother. I'd seen pictures of his father and there was not a trace of him in the young boy.

"I'm hungry and you promised me pancakes," Jimmy announced, determined to make sure that I followed through on my promise,

"Alright," I said standing up, "but you're helping me," I smiled leading the young boy into the kitchen.

Within moments we'd turned the kitchen upside down and it looked like a bomb had hit it,

"We better clean this up before your mum gets up," I laughed wiping flour off the boy's nose. While we were cooking Jimmy quietly confided in me that while he was having a great time he didn't want to tell the kids at school he hadn't gone camping on the weekend,

"Dad keeps promising to take me camping and I get excited and tell my friends then on Monday they all laugh at me because I have to admit that I didn't go. I'm the only boy in my class who has never been camping," I looked at the boy in shock,

"You've never been camping?"

"Dad promised to take me when I turned 6, but I don't think he'll ever take me. The kids are going to pick on me because I'll never get to go camping; I've never even had a camp-out in the backyard"

"Why should you miss out just because your dad breaks his promise? Let's have a camp-out tonight," I suggested,

"But, I don't even have a tent!" Jimmy sighed pathetically,

"No tent? How were you going to go camping with your dad then?"

"He works at Sam's Club and said he got a really good one there, he probably never even tried".

It broke my heart to see the young boy so devastated by his father's lies and all he wanted was to be taken camping.

"Well Jiminy, let's change that,"

"Jiminy?" The boy asked raising an eyebrow.

"Have you ever seen Pinocchio?"

"No," He shook his head,

"Alright, you finish eating and go get changed, we're going to go buy you a tent and a copy of Pinocchio," I was glad that I could do something to excite the young boy. After he'd finished eating he helped me clean up a little before racing up the stairs to get changed.

I gave the kitchen a quick wipe over and headed upstairs to get changed myself. When I walked into Alex's bedroom I saw that she was stirring slightly,

"The boy has never been camping?" I asked in shock,

"Do I look like the camping type?" Alex asked sarcastically. She had a point; she was more of a cabin in the woods person than a tent person,

"And never seen Pinocchio? That was my favourite movie as a kid,"

"No, he's never seen it," Alex yawned rolling over to face me, "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking Jimmy to get a tent and Pinocchio,"

"Oh okay," Alex sighed closing her eyes again... I leant over and kissed her gently, as I was walking out the room I heard Alex move, "wait!"

"What?" I asked turning to face my new fiancé,

"He can't have a tent,"

"Why not?" I asked confused. Sighing Alex sat up in bed making herself comfortable,

"Because I can't afford it. A tent is a birthday or Christmas present, not a 'because it's Saturday' present," I sat down on the edge of the bed beside her,

"Lex, we're going to get married right?" I asked carefully choosing my words,

"Yeah,"

"Well that means what is mine becomes yours and vice versa... Only my salary, we can afford to buy him a new tent for every day of the year, for the rest of his life if we wanted to,"

"John, you don't have to throw away your money into giving him stuff,"

"I know, but this isn't throwing away my money. It's a great bonding opportunity for me and my future step-son, besides it will give me a chance to get his mother out and roughing it too," I smirked, "life is going to get much easier for you two,"

"Don't spoil him,"

"No, he won't get spoilt. Now can I bring you home anything?" I asked. Alex thought for a moment before smiling,

"Ryan Reynolds,"

"You know I do actually know him," I chuckled slightly,

"Really?"

"Yeah, and you know what else?"

"What?"

"I ain't bringing him home; he's better looking than me. I'm not going to risk losing you," I laughed before leaning down and kissing Alex, right then Jimmy walked in,

"John... Are you coming?"


End file.
